Dear Mrs. McVeigh,
My daughter had a friend come over the other day. We went to a place that you can create your own pottery, and then back to our house to make a pie for my nephew’s birthday. The friend seemed okay while we were making our ceramic creations, but then started coughing on the way to our house from the grocery store. I asked her if she was okay, and she said she had pneumonia for a day, and before that bronchitis. I then asked her what “day” she had pneumonia, and her answer was Monday – and it was a Wednesday. You obviously do not get over pneumonia or bronchitis in a day, so I realized as she continued coughing non-stop that she was possibly contagious. When we got to the house the friend ripped open the piecrust, and coughed on the crust and all of the ingredients as we made the pie. Needless to say, I threw out the pie when she left and made a new one the next morning. Don’t you think the mother of this girl was wrong to let her come over to our house? The mother did not even mention that two days before the little girl was sick.
Signed,
N.D.L.
Dear N.D.L.,
The fact that the mother of your daughter’s friend allowed her to go to your house was extremely inconsiderate to you, and to her own daughter. The young lady probably needed more time to rest to completely recover, and she should have thought about the germs that she could spread to others. The mother at the very least could have warned you that the daughter had been sick, and given you the choice to postpone the get together. Ideally the mother should have volunteered to postpone to spare you of an uncomfortable situation.