Miss Manners: I felt like an eavesdropper sitting in my dentist’s chair

MISS MANNERS by Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was at the dentist, having a cleaning, when the dentist and the hygienist began a detailed conversation about their plans for the weekend.

One said something funny and I chuckled -- as much as one can with tools in one’s mouth -- at which point a pause in their conversation led me to believe I had committed a faux pas by eavesdropping.

In the future, should I pretend to be part of the furniture?

GENTLE READER: Or more like a plant being pruned or watered?

Miss Manners suspects that the dentist and hygienist, just like all those people yelling into their phones in public and then glaring at passersby, indeed thought you were eavesdropping.

You were not. In fact, you may have done them a favo