No place for party talk

Dear Amy: I am a receptionist. I love my job and my co-workers are great.

But there is one thing that bugs me. My desk is in a common area by the mail bins, and co-workers often chat around my desk.

With the holiday season, they’re talking about a party that I am not invited to. I think it is rude to talk about parties in front of people who are not invited. How do I politely tell them to stop talking about these gatherings in front of me? It’s like I am invisible to them!

Uninvited

Dear Uninvited: I agree that it is rude to discuss a private gathering in front of someone who has not been invited. I think this is a basic rule most of us learned in elementary school and yet seem to forget later in life.

Discussing these gatherings in front of others is a familiar complaint to supervisors and HR departments. If you have a supervisor you can talk to, you might ask them to gently remind your colleagues that your workstation is public and that they shouldn’t entertain private conversations there.

Depending on how well you know these co-workers, you also could handle this in a lighthearted way by saying a version of: “Helllooooo, I’m sitting right here.”

Dear Amy: My 6-year-old granddaughter hasn’t been vaccinated because the parents have opposing views, even though they are both fully vaccinated.

I have calmly voiced my opinion by explaining why she needs to be vaccinated. I say “calmly,” but internally I’m upset and extremely worried. Are there any strategies to get the one parent to agree to vaccinate the child, or should I stay out of it?

Worried Gram

Dear Gram: In November, I published a heartbreaking account of a previous pandemic, which outlined the terrible risks of transmission of some viruses, as well as the miracle of vaccination. I’m reprinting it here:

“My mother died in 1957 in the Asian flu pandemic. I caught the virus at school (I was in kindergarten) and passed it on to her.

“We lived in Aurora, Ohio. My teacher didn’t know there was at least one student in her classroom who passed it on to me, and perhaps other students. No one was masked.

“I remember being quite sick, and I remember my shock and sadness as a 5year-old on the morning that my mother died.

“Catching that illness at school created deadly havoc in our home and has haunted me my whole life.

“I’m 69 years old now, and the loss of my mother certainly changed the lives of my sister and our father.

“This COVID-19 pandemic has brought back many memories, and I am a strong advocate of precautions, including masks and vaccines.

“Please continue to emphasize masks and vaccines in your column.

“Signed: Reverend Dr. Kay Palmer Marsh”

It’s hard to understand why these parents would choose protection for themselves but not their child.

The good news for you and your family is that you and the child’s parents are vaccinated (and hopefully boosted) and are thus protected from the worst outcome of the disease, should your granddaughter carry the virus home.

Stay calm, try not to worry, and if they bring this up, urge them to follow the advice of their child’s pediatrician and the CDC.