Miss Manners
When it comes to navigating the social maze, it helps to know someone who is omniscient. After college, I had a roommate we affectionately called "Truck." Truck was petite and pretty, and had the most insanely beautiful eyes in the world. Being a New Yorker, and having been raised by a very proper Austrian mother, Truck knew everything about correct behavior. When she moved to Seattle, she was much more sophisticated than anyone in our group of laid-back Seattle friends. It was like she was adult and the rest of us were still figuring things out. And she knew obscure things for someone our age to know: She knew an oriental rug should have a pad; she knew burned food was carcinogenic; she knew how to COOK. Her mom worked for a major publishing house in New York, so she was very well read. She had impeccable manners and a vast knowledge of etiquette. When we worked on a magazine together, some of the guys in our office called her Miss Manners. She took ...
