Actor fails to properly thank benefactors

HOROSCOPES

Aries (March 21-April 19). Meeting new and different people on a regular basis makes you better, stronger and more versatile.

Taurus (April 20-May 20). Feeling affection, warmth, laughter, playfulness in your relationships takes a directional shift away from a humdrum reality.

Gemini (May 21-June 21). Glimpsing the inner workings of other people’s brains helps protect your assets and advance your goals.

Cancer (June 22-July 22). The more tolerant and compassionate your actions are, the more likely it is that you’re on the right side.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22). You’ve been known to flirt without realizing it. Your interaction style has more to do with stirring up good vibes than it does with any social agenda.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You are an excellent planner, and it’s worthwhile to spend your time and energy on drawing up your ideas for the future.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). It’s not your job to make the people around you happy. Why not go where you’re happiest?

Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Having too many things to do would prevent you from doing any of them exceptionally well. What can be axed that you wouldn’t miss?

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Most will be won over by your charm. As for the ones who are not, go around them. Leave them alone.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Things don’t have to go according to plan in order for you to feel like they are as they should be. You accepted long ago that you’re not in charge of it all, and that’s a relief, really!

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Even favorable circumstances, fortuitous opportunities and wonderful events can be incredibly stressful. Excellent selfcare becomes more important when excitement is in the air.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20). It’s not that you made a wrong choice; it’s just that you acted on what you knew. Now you know so much more.

Dear Miss Manners: At my husband’s request, I agreed to ask friends to make a contribution, in his name, to a drama scholarship fund. Due to the amount raised in his name, he was given the opportunity to act in a short one-act play, written by a well-known playwright and starring a well-known actor, in our city.

I’ve told him he should send thankyou notes (or emails) to each of the friends who contributed. He answered that saying “thank you” to them personally was enough. I know a note would be appreciated, so I ended up writing emails myself. Do you think he should send thank-you notes?

Gentle Reader: He’ll get back to these people, you may be sure. Just wait until the show he is in is scheduled, and he goes after his benefactors to buy tickets.

Some may feel that he treated their contributions in an offhand manner. But even if not, Miss Manners would think that your husband would relish the opportunity to stoke their enthusiasm with a letter of gratitude for what he may describe as an exciting play.

Dear Miss Manners: When we invited our neighbors over for a cookout, one neighbor took an ear of corn and spun it around on top of a stick of butter that was in the butter dish on the table. I have never seen anything like this in my life.

Even my kids were shocked. Although it looks to be very efficient, this cannot be acceptable etiquette, can it?

Gentle Reader: To mess around in communal dishes? No. Your children are right to be shocked. Miss Manners joins their “Ewwww!”

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews Mcmeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

By Judith Martin and Nicholas Ivor Martin UNIVERSAL UCLICK