At her dinner party, along with a delicious meal, my friend offered a variety of beverages, including a regular and light beer, a red and a white wine, a popular cola, iced tea and water.

When she asked a male guest what he would like to drink, he asked for a beer. She asked if he would prefer brand X or brand Y light. He asked, “don't you have brand z? No. Sorry. So he asked for cola P. She had cola C. He settled for the Y light, then loudly complained to his wife that they should have brought their own, and maybe he would go home and get some. (I will note here that as a bartender I often referred to his brand as “the crap you have to add citrus to help you gag it down”)

Well, wifey cooed at him until he settled down and decided to join the other guests in conversation, punctuated with occasional mutterings about looking forward to a good beer. Really, he did not even try to be discreet about it.

Dinner conversation went here and there, as it tends to do. Eventually it rolled around to children and the unexpected things they say. The opportunity was perfect so I shared this story:

"I'll never forget a time when he (my son Jake) was about 6 years old and my in laws were over for dinner. We had been working on his table manners and he was doing pretty well. I held out a bowl of potatoes to my mother-in-law and asked if she would like some. She said she didn't like them, and only ate baked potatoes. It was the texture and blah blah…Jake stopped her and said, “Gramma, the correct answer is either no thank you or yes please."

There was laughter followed by a moment of slightly uncomfortable silence, then a subject change .

Since then I have been at several parties that this couple also attended and have witnessed no repeat offense.