DEAR MISS MANNERS: My neighbor needed vanilla extract for a recipe and asked if I had any. I gave her a new bottle of extract, saying, “Replace it when you can.”
The bottle of vanilla extract was replaced with imitation extract. I will never use imitation vanilla, EVER. What do I do? Do I say something or just chalk it up to her being rude?
GENTLE READER: “Oblivious” might be more accurate. Miss Manners would rather attribute the mistake to benign ignorance than willful malice.
Some unfortunate people simply do not know the difference between their vanillas. Etiquette dictates that if you feel compelled to educate them, you do so kindly, without accusation, and in another context.
(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)
