Dear Queenie,
There is another couple we often go out to dinner with, but the wife spends most of the time at the restaurant going around to other tables greeting people she knows and introducing herself to the ones she doesn’t know.
We find this embarrassing and also rude.
Queenie, shouldn’t she be spending her time with the people she came with?— Offended friends
Dear Friends,
Of course she should, but it would be equally rude to scold her about it. The next time it happens, ignore her, finish your meal if you have already started eating, and leave when you are done – without saying anything to her if she is not at your table at the time. If that leaves her with your bill, so be it. If later she says anything to you about leaving her there like that, tell her you could not say goodbye to her because she was not there to say it to.
You also might want to consider not going out with that couple very often, and if they ask you why, tell them it is because the wife does not seem very interested in your company.
