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Is it okay for a man to accept a seat offering from a woman? I was at a party where a lady offered me her seat. She knew that I had been moving from one apartment to another all day long and was exhausted. I initially said no but due to her insistence, I did accept the seat on the couch.
Is this acceptable or should I have just continued to say “No thank you”?
I thought it would be rude to not accept but a friend wholeheartedly disagreed with me.
Thank you.
Dear Mr. Jones,
The most kind woman who offered you her seat was, in fact, offering you a gift, and you were correct in accepting it after she insisted. Consider yourself blessed to have run across a person whose generosity transcended gender and who chose to see you as a human being deserving of a comfortable perch. Kindness and practicality often trump gender-based etiquette rules, and your concern about your proper behavior speaks volumes about your good character. Now, go forth and spread your light!
My daughter, the assistant coach for a soccer team, is being married in seven weeks. The eleven girls on her team have asked to come to the wedding. How should their invitations be addressed? Due to the number of guests invited, I did not want to invite both parents. Must both parents be invited? Could the invitation be addressed to the child with a guest invited on the inner envelope?
Thank you.
Dear Ms. Farias,
Congratulations on your daughter’s engagement. Might I suggest that, since you do not wish to invite both parents of each girl, that you simply invite the girls and arrange for the head coach to accompany them to the wedding? This could be a great team-bonding experience and the coach could certainly lay down rules for the young ladies, and this would also relieve harried parents of the time commitment.
There really is no way to only invite one parent without running the great risk of offending the other and you also don’t want to appear miserly. Inviting only one parent also might make the girls and parents feel as if they are “second tier” guests in view of the fact that other couples will probably be in attendance.
Obviously if you adopt my suggestion, then the invitation would read “Miss Sally Soccerette.” If you do go with inviting one parent only, I’d suggest your daughter get the word out to the team and find out which parent each girl will come with and address the invitation specifically naming the parent and girl.
Thank you for the prompt answer. We will invite both parents because my husband is their head coach. As father of the bride he will be busy hosting at the reception.
I hope it is a lovely day for you and your family.