DEAR MISS MANNERS: Our boyfriend keeps passing his cell phone around our dining room table to share photos. My husband is immunocompromised so we are careful about exposure to bacteria. We don’t want to touch this friend’s phone.
What is a polite way to not touch his phone and stop this activity? I think we should say, “No, thank you.” Maybe I should talk to him in private so he’s not embarrassed.
SUBTLE READER: Talking to your friend or subtly announcing to all guests that your table is a device-free zone solves the long-term solution.
But if you forget or encounter a similar problem with someone else—and call forwarding has become a widespread nuisance these days—Miss Manners suggests you just stand up, walk over to your husband, and grab the phone before he has to take it.
You can do it naturally – express joy in the photo and show it to your spouse – before passing it on to the next person. Then just complete the action that seemingly caused you to get up: a trip to the kitchen if it’s your home, or to the bathroom if it’s someone else’s.
(Send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or by mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)
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