FoodBanter.com - View Single Post

jmcquown[_2_]

On 3/1/2013 3:48 PM, wrote:
>
>
> DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am old enough to recall when guests came first.
> Drop-ins might have been unexpected, but never unwanted or unwelcome.
> The family made accommodations as if they had been invited -- even if
> guests got most of the meal or the children of the household ate peanut
> butter sandwiches.
>
> Nowadays the family's schedule comes first, and drop-ins might not even
> be invited in for a brief chat and coffee. Calling first does not mean
> they will be welcome either.
>
>
> While I'd like to agree with Miss Manners, I suspect that what the writer
> meant was that he/she lived in a rural area where few people had phones
> - maybe in the 1950s? - and that kids, unlike now, were expected to make
> sacrifices for adults all the time, so it would have been considered rude
> for the "hosts" to make the "guests" eat the PBJ sandwiches instead.
I only
> wish MM had not ignored that possibility; it would have made for a more
> interesting explanation of how and why times change.
>
> Lenona.
>
(attempted to "fix" the GoogleGroups line-wrap crap, hopefully)

It doesn't really matter why things have changed, does it? Fact is,
they have. This *isn't* the 1950's. IMHO it's rude to show up
unannounced (*especially* around dinner time). I don't consider people
like that "guests".

Jill