Picky eater vetoes suggestions

Dear Miss Manners: I am a part of a small, closeknit group of girlfriends. We were previously co-workers, but remained very close after we all went on to different jobs. We talk constantly, confide in one another and try to schedule a girls’ night at least once a month among our busy schedules. I look forward to seeing these girls every time, and we always end up having a great night out.

But when it comes time for us to select which restaurant we’d like to go to, one of the girls always turns down many recommendations because she “didn’t like it there,” “wasn’t impressed” or “doesn’t like that type of food.”

Now, my other friends and I are always more than accommodating if someone mentions they are uninterested in eating at a certain place. However, this person always ends up ordering the same thing at every restaurant we go to. (It is a dish served at every restaurant due to the fact it’s usually found on the children’s menu.)

Are we enabling her by working around her pickier wishes, despite the fact that she doesn’t order anything other than one item? The rest of us are a bit more adventurous. How should we handle this?

Gentle Reader: It is gracious of you not to point out that Darlene always gets the chicken fingers no matter what. Perhaps as a compromise, you can make a schedule where each of you gets to pick the restaurant when it is your turn. That way, Miss Manners suggests, Darlene will have to tolerate the others’ more adventurous picks — but the rest of you will then have to eagerly agree when she enthusiastically suggests “Cluck Cluck’s.”