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Dear Aunty Pam,

 

I’m pretty sure I’ve just been dumped by my boyfriend of 6 months. I’m devastated. We got along great (I thought), and I was head over heels for ‘Alex,’ but he told me after we went out to dinner last week that we needed to take a break from each other because I was too ‘high maintenance.’

I was shocked and asked what he meant by that, and he said I embarrassed him nearly every time we went out to eat. He said I was being fussy about cream for my coffee, and the time before that I had asked the server if the restaurant used chlorine when the table cloths were washed because I thought I could smell it.

I admit I did ask about the chlorine, and as far as the cream was concerned, I didn’t want to open up a bunch of little creamers at the table and asked the server if she could do it in the back and bring them out in a little glass or cup. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, but Alex said it embarrassed him. Then he said when we grabbed lunch at a Denny’s, I embarrassed him again when I asked if the salmon was farm-raised or wild-caught.

I just don’t get why he’s embarrassed when I simply want to know where the food I’m going to order is from. Does that make me high maintenance??

 

Missy

 

Dear Missy,

 

Aunty Pam wouldn’t call you high maintenance; I would call you a pain in the “you know what…”

Now, if you were dining at a top restaurant, I’d expect milk or cream to be automatically offered in one of those little silver jugs. That’s all part of a fine dining experience.

But asking a Denny’s server if their salmon is wild caught? It’s DENNY’S— of course it will be ‘Atlantic’ (code word for farmed) salmon. They’re a family-friendly chain restaurant, not the Ritz. Neither will they offer capers, ‘herbes de Provence,’ or a charming Sauvignon Blanc.

The chlorine? I can’t say—I’ve never blown my nose in a tablecloth.

Alex has a point. Now lower your perfectly arched eyebrow, adjust your pashmina, and…

 

Cheers, dears!!

Aunty Pam