Miss Manners: How NOT to increase employment rates

 (And about getting diamonds from your dad.....)

http://lifestyle.msn.com/relationships/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid 821679

Dear Miss Manners,
My question is partly economic and partly etiquette, I hope you can
help me. When I go to a "fast food" place for a quick meal I prefer
not to clear the table and place my used items in the garbage. My
reason for doing this is that the more I do of what ought to be an
employee's job, the fewer employees they will hire. I think this is a
small way to contribute to full employment.

On a recent occasion I went to one such place with my son-in-law and
grandchildren and we discussed this. He cleared the table himself and
said that he thought this was the courteous thing to do. However, that
table clearing still doesn't include wiping spills and sanitizing the
surface for the next diner.

I want to be courteous in a fast-food environment, so what shall I do?

Gentle Reader,
First, you clean up after yourself. That is an implicit rule of fast
food places, and your eating there implies your consent.

Second, Miss Manners begs you to refrain from constructing scenarios
to fit your idiosyncratic behavior. She believes that the chances of
another employee's being hired to take charge of your trash are about
nil; you would simply be giving more work to the present employees.
Surely you don't want to be responsible for that. But if the
establishment were to change its policy and acquire additional clean-
up people, it would have to raise its prices. Surely you don't want to
be responsible for pricing anyone out of an affordable meal.

*******

Dear Miss Manners,
Is it appropriate for a daughter to ask a father for expensive
diamonds for her wedding day?

Gentle Reader,
She can ask, Miss Manners supposes. The more pressing question should
be whether the father should warn the bridegroom about the appetite
and attitude that prompted the request.

http://lifestyle.msn.com/Relationships/Article.aspx?cp-documentid ƒ18975
 (the column index, if you like - MM writes a separate column at
washingtonpost.com, but I just get that one through Google News.)

Lenona.