DEAR MISS MANNERS: I accompanied my wife to the funeral of a former co-worker. Afterward, at an informal reception, my wife was chatting up a man I recognized from high school debate competitions 50 years ago.

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We chatted amicably for five minutes before I politely moved on to another conversation.

Two days later, I received an invitation to connect with this gentleman on social media. He followed up with a message saying it was nice to see my wife and me again, and, by the way, he had been surfing through my history on the internet. He was sorry that I “seemed to have had a frustrating career.”

I chose not to respond to his message. However, I am curious: Would there have been a polite response to his description of my work life? I had a challenging and rewarding caree

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