Dear Queenie,

Our family gets together on special occasions, but one person’s spouse works odd hours and often can’t attend, so this person brings along a container to take home leftovers for the spouse.

That doesn’t bother me so much, but when the party is at a restaurant, this person orders an extra meal “to go” for the spouse and the host ends up paying the bill for the takeout meal.

Queenie, is this right?—Etty Ket

Dear Queenie,

My father died a few years ago and since then my mother has turned her back on all her own friends and butted in on my relationships with my own friends.

Not only is this a nuisance when we want to do things together, it makes it impossible for me to stay on the same terms with my friends when my mother always seems to be involved.

Queenie, why doesn’t she stick to friends her own age?—Fed up daughter

Dear Queenie,

What is it with people nowadays? Why can't they put down their cell phones and/or other gadgets long enough to hold a person-to-person conversation?

I have a cell phone and a computer, but if I'm talking to someone or sitting at the dinner table or something like that I let the phone call go to voice mail or the computer's e-mail tone wait its turn.

Queenie, what ever happened to simple good manners?—Offended

Dear Queenie,

I’ve been divorced for several years now and I’ve been dating a man who is some kind of cousin to my ex-husband. The problem is that some of my ex-husband’s relatives do not approve because of the relationship. They seem to think it is adultery or incest or something.

I want to stay on good terms with them because they will be relatives in-law again if we get serious about each other, and even if we don’t I don’t want to cause problems in his family.

Queenie, what do you say?—Dating again