Pacific Northwesterners are not known for being blunt. Sometimes our shyness can get in the way of decorum. Here to help is KPLU’s advice expert Dick Stein to answers etiquette questions from Sound Effect listeners.
When I’m at a four-way stop with another driver, and the other driver has the right of way, and I wave them through, and they give me the “No, please you go first,” gesture even though legally it’s their turn, am I allowed to think bad thoughts about them or even actually show them a roll of my eyes for their apparent failure to understand traffic rules?
-Brandon
A neighbor just offered me a bucket of barnacles he had just scraped off the bottom of his boat. How should I have handled it? I just said "no thanks." Could I be offending him?
-James
Is it okay to wear white socks with your sandals after Labor Day?
-Warrick
Is there anyone so important in this city that they should not have to wait for the pedestrian walk sign before crossing?
-Sue
So, what is the best etiquette for dealing with the Pacific Northwest habit of driving in the left lane? Does one simply stay right and pass them by, or do you help your neighbor remember that the left lane is the passing lane with a friendly blink of the high beams? Are there other solutions?
-Dave, a frustrated Minnesota transplant of 21 years
