DEAR MISS MANNERS: Even before the pandemic, I worked from my home office. Most of my meetings are online.
Due to medication that I must take, I often experience thirst and dry mouth, the latter making it difficult to speak. I always have water or tea at my desk to sip during meetings.
I’ve noticed that no one else ever seems to do this. I don’t make a big show of it; I’m not chugging anything. I don’t have a large, showy beverage or bottle. It’s just about being comfortable, as perhaps someone giving a lecture might do. Am I making an etiquette error here?
GENTLE READER: Frankly, it is far more shocking that no one else in your meetings has a beverage. Large, showy water bottles are a national trend right now.
But Miss Manners sees no reason not to keep your modest one — with the caveat, perhaps, that if your gulping or swallowing itself is large and showy, you mute yourself before taking a drink.
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(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)