DEAR ABBY: I have a smartphone, and I love its convenience. I check my email, texts and voicemail three or four times a day and always try to respond promptly. But I do not carry my phone with me every moment of the day.
Some family members insist that the polite thing to do is to return a text message or voicemail IMMEDIATELY. They carry their phones with them and constantly interrupt whatever they are involved with to answer the phone, send a text, etc.
For my birthday, one relative gave me a little pouch on a string so I could wear my phone around my neck wherever I went because she texted me one day early in the afternoon saying she wanted to drop by, but I didn’t see or respond to it until dinner time. Is making oneself available every moment of the day and night now required for good manners? —NOT A PHONE ADDICT
DEAR NOT AN ADDICT: Of course not! A cellphone is not supposed to be a leash. Your relative has become hooked on the concept of instant gratification, which isn’t healthy for either of you. If you humor her, your cellphone will become an annoying and unending inconvenience for you. Do not take the bait.
DEAR ABBY: My father recently purchased a truck for our farm. It’s old and in poor shape, but it was worth the $2,000 he paid for it.
The truck was fine until my father used it to pick me and my siblings up from school. When the other kids saw the bumperless truck, they began calling my little brother “Farmer Boy” and made cow noises at us. My mother isn’t OK with it either. He picked her up from work in it, which embarrassed her in front of her co-workers.
It’s not like we don’t have other vehicles. Both my parents have nice, functional cars. Abby, please help me figure out a way to tell my dad without hurting his feelings. — FREAKED OUT IN FRANKFORT, KY.
DEAR FREAKED OUT: People should not be judged because of the clothes they wear or the vehicles they drive, but sometimes they are by shallow people who should know better. I think you could get your message across by telling your father how your brother’s classmates reacted when they saw him pick up your brother. What they did was cruel. Leave it up to your mother to tell him she felt embarrassed in front of her co-workers. I’m sure she can get the message across.
DEAR ABBY: My wife was sexually active with a classmate in high school. Their relationship lasted until shortly before we were married, 54 years ago. I have often wondered what he did to make her so willing to come to his bed. Perhaps if I knew, I could enhance her pleasure in our lovemaking. However, such information might be injurious to our relationship. What is your take on this? I think about this several times each day. —OBSESSED IN THE WEST
DEAR OBSESSED: You have, I hope, been happily married for more than half a century. Has it never occurred to you that her high school romance failed because the sex wasn’t that great? If you want to ask your wife at this late date if there is anything you can do to enhance her enjoyment of your lovemaking, by all means do. But do not frame it the way you did to me.
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