January 26, 2011

Is it faux pas to...

...give dinner guests "the tour" of your home? Is that showing off?

...not send thank-you cards for Christmas presents to geographically distant family?

...use free wi-fi at a place without buying a coffee every single time? (Personally, I think of it as window shopping for a beverage where there happens to be free interwebs and I happen to have my laptop.)

...post pictures of yourself on Facebook and when you receive kind compliments, say nothing back?

I don't consider any of these true dilemmas that some family ethics professor somewhere needs to address, but these questions do run through my head at times. Is it safe to trust your own intuition and experiences when it comes to the navigation of postmodern social scenes (evites, Skype dates, online class discussions)? I do own an Emily Post manual, but I bought it at Goodwill for my own entertainment, not to reference in a moment of panic.

On second thought, I do reference a "protocol" manual for Army social situations. Better safe than sorry.