Customs, Etiquette and Manners

February 1, 2018

Social Q’s: If You Love Me, Why Won’t You GoFundMe?

Advertisement I am heartbroken! Please help me understand why friends have kept silent, not donated or even acknowledged my GoFundMe plea. I am recovering from breast […]
January 25, 2018

Social Q’s: When Hollywood Ageism Hits Close to Home

Advertisement For years, a college friend (in her 50s) has forbidden me from telling anyone we went to school together. Since moving to Hollywood, she deducted […]
January 18, 2018

Social Q’s: Mom, I Love You, but I Can’t Keep Going to Church

Advertisement I am 17. Since I was a baby, my mother has taken me to church with her on Sunday mornings. Recently, I’ve felt less religious […]
December 7, 2017

Social Q’s: Will Y‘All Please Stop Yammering About Resilience?

Advertisement This summer, I lost a great job, and my boyfriend dumped me. These events weren’t linked, though the job loss may have hurried my boyfriend […]
November 23, 2017

Social Q’s: Correcting a Co-Worker’s Grammar: Helpful or Hurtful?

Advertisement I recently switched jobs and have been training to use a complicated new computer system. The young woman helping me is terrific: kind, innovative and […]
November 16, 2017

Social Q’s: Thanksgiving, Solved! How to Deal With This Dreadful Holiday

Social Q’s By PHILIP GALANES My wife and I have been married for two years and dated for three before that. That’s five horrendous Thanksgivings with […]
November 9, 2017

Social Q’s: When Your Daughter Is So Over Your Friend’s Daughter

Advertisement A longtime friend and I have older daughters who are 11. When they were younger, we all got together frequently for play dates and mini-vacations. […]
November 2, 2017

Social Q’s: My Brother Is Adopted (He Didn’t Want Me to Tell You That)

Social Q’s By PHILIP GALANES For four years, my family’s Sunday breakfast routine has been quizzing each other about Social Q’s, so we’ve agreed to follow […]
October 26, 2017

Social Q’s: Driving Cross-Country Without — Gasp! — Checking Your Phone

Social Q’s By PHILIP GALANES My sister and her husband are driving cross-country soon. They’ve been planning this vacation for a long time. It’s a big […]
October 19, 2017

Social Q’s: Microaggressions at the Market

Social Q’s By PHILIP GALANES While I was waiting to check out at the market, an older white woman in front of me turned to the […]