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DEAR MISS MANNERS: A boy I knew in college, but was not close friends with, recently moved to my city, and we decided to meet to reconnect. He brought pastries and I served tea on my patio. When I brought out my blue tea set, he made some off-putting remark about the situation not requiring me to “break out my best china.” The tone of it was rude, and I was made to feel small about making the casual event a little nicer. I’m sure he did this defensively to indicate that we were not on a date. And also he’s kind of a jerk. But I could only respond with a baffled “Huh?” because I hadn’t “broken …

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