Here's how to handle someone moving your chair and stealing your spot at a parade

Q. My wife and I recently went to watch a parade in a nearby town. We went early, found a shady spot and set up our lawn chairs right next to the curb. My wife decided she needed to find a ladies' restroom. I wanted to go back to the car and get a couple bottles of cold water. We left the chairs as they were. I came back to the chairs before my wife returned and found that our chairs had been moved back and there were two other chairs in front of ours. There was a man and a woman sitting in those chairs. I noticed there were other places they could have put their chairs further down the street and be in the front, but it was sunny there.

I debated about what to do, so I waited until my wife returned and she immediately asked me why I had moved our chairs. In a loud enough voice so the people who were sitting in front of us could hear, I told her I hadn't moved them but found them to have been moved when I returned from the car with our water bottles. I waited for the people sitting in the chairs in front of us to respond, apologize and offer to move their chairs. Absolutely no response. Needless to say, I was a little perturbed, especially perturbed that they didn't do a thing and I knew they heard my conversation with my wife. My wife tells me she wants to move because she didn't want to sit that close to ill-mannered people who would move other people's chairs. Still no response from these obnoxious people, so we gathered our chairs and moved on down the street.

I don't think they had the right to move our chairs, do you? In retrospect, should I have just tapped this fellow on the shoulder and asked them to move their chairs because we had been their first?

A. No, this man and woman should not have moved your chairs and placed theirs in front of yours. They obviously should have "fessed up" and apologized when they heard (had to hear) the ensuing conversation between you and your wife.

Tapping the man on the shoulder and politely asking them to move their chairs could have worked in a normal situation; however, I seriously doubt he would have apologized and agreed to move. It is unfortunate, but there are very rude people in our society who just do not care about what they do and how they treat other people. Moving your chairs to another location was the best option for you.

Q. Every time I think I have seen it all, I see something which makes my mouth drop. I was grocery shopping and moved into a line for checkout. In front of me was a lady with two little children; one was in the cart and the other one was standing next to her mother. Both little children were eating pieces of chicken their mother apparently had given them from one of those roasted chicken containers which she was holding in her hand. No napkins (of course). The checker gave the woman a weird look, but didn't say anything to her. The woman paid for the chicken and out the door they went like this is the okay thing to do. Is there something wrong with me — is this the new acceptable norm in the etiquette world today? No wonder I wipe down the cart I select every time I go to the grocery store.

A. There is nothing wrong with you and this is not the new norm in the etiquette world — at least I hope it does not become the acceptable norm. It appears the checker knew, but apparently has been trained not to chastise customers for fear of causing an uncontrollable scene and/or being fired. And, yes, wiping down your cart is a good idea to remove chicken grease as well as cold and flu germs.

Q. A scoop of ice cream is often served as dessert for big conference dinners I have to attend. My stomach cannot handle ice cream. If my husband is with me, I just quietly hand it to him. If he is not with me, can I just offer it up to anyone else at the table? I've tried to just tell the server I don't want it, but that causes a lot of unwanted attention from the server sometimes, and then there is that person who doesn't see me decline it, and then decides to wait to eat theirs until I get mine. Then I have to be sure I explain why I don't have ice cream in front of me. I hate to let it sit in front of me and melt when someone else might like to have it.

A. Your rationale appears to authorize you to offer it to someone else at your table, but be sure to do so as inconspicuously as possible.

This story was originally published June 14, 2018 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Here's how to handle someone moving your chair and stealing your spot at a parade."