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DEAR MISS MANNERS: I enjoy cooking and setting a nice table, and my spouse and I often invite several couples over for dinner. After the meal, I have come upon a problem: I don’t feel right clearing the table for able-bodied adults of equal status to me. In the past, I joined in clearing family members’ dishes as a sign of respect for my in-laws or parents who were hosting, and I always scrape and rinse my own plate at friends’ houses. But I just don’t feel right taking the plates of our friends as they sit there with their posteriors glued to their chairs. Something seems amiss if I am expect…

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