|
Paging DS and Grinchy: Etiquette Q
I need some "etiquette" help -- but of the kind where DS talks about ways to politely be nasty to someone.
Situation: a former executive of a client had an affair with a co-worker with whom I worked on the client business.** Both were married with children. The woman's husband was a stay-at-home dad. Both got fired, though not necessarily because of the affair because inter-office affairs were rampant in the executive suite there. They have since married and put their exes through hell in their divorces.
I haven't seen either of them since they left the client but recently met the guy's ex-wife who is very nice. (She has gotten to the place where she realizes that, except financially, her life is better than it would have been if he hadn't left). This past weekend I was in the grocery store parking lot when someone called my name -- I was parked right next to the cheaters.
What I really wanted to do was to -- as they say in historical romances -- give them "the cut direct." But I'm a coward when it comes to confrontation so I made polite conversation for as short a time as humanly possible and split.
So, what would Miss Manners recommend one do when one encounters people whose behavior one thinks has been completely unacceptable? Is there a modern version of "the cut direct" or at least something that would appear on the surface as polite but convey the message that someone's behavior is not condoned?
|
