Bagging it
This morning I was taking Milo back from his walk in the park, and I was carrying a bag full of what bags are usually full of when you are taking your dog back from the park. It's garbage day in our neighborhood, and as I was walking past one nearly full can, the attractive young garbage man who was about to empty it pointed at my bag and said, "Wanna put that in here?"
"Oh, um, okay."
"You don' wanna keep it, do you?"
"Well, no, I don't." So I put the bag in the garbage can, which he then rolled out to the truck.
It somehow felt that I'd done something vaguely rude, but it was the young man's idea, and he is, after all, a trash collector and probably has few illusions about what trash contains. It would normally be rude to disrobe and start telling a relative stranger all about your latest "episode," too, but not if they were your doctor.
I still feel kind of weird about it, though.
The author is solely responsible for the content.
Welcome to Miss Conduct’s blog, a place where the popular Boston Globe Magazine columnist Robin Abrahams and her readers share etiquette tips, unravel social conundrums, and gossip about social behavior in pop culture and the news. Have a question of your own? Ask Robin using this form or by emailing her at missconduct@globe.com.
Who is Miss Conduct?
Robin Abrahamswrites the weekly "Miss Conduct" column for The Boston Globe Magazine and is the author of Miss Conduct's Mind over Manners. Robin has a PhD in psychology from Boston University and also works as a research associate at Harvard Business School. Her column is informed by her experience as a theater publicist, organizational-change communications manager, editor, stand-up comedian, and professor of psychology and English. She lives in Cambridge with her husband Marc Abrahams, the founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, and their socially challenged but charismatic dog, Milo.