Manners.

Manners are such tricky little things. People usually have degrees of manners, ranging from perfect to non-existant. While it is very easy to compain about non-existant manners I feel I should address that tricky grey area between the two extremes. What is a suitable level of manners to have?

Here's a case study for you all. Myself and Dave went to a 21st tonight and had the most delicious birthday cake. It was obviously very expensive and time consuming to make. After the cake had been shared out there was one piece left over which sat on the plate until we all started to leave to go home. Only then did this one girl pipe up and ask if she could have "a sliver off the slice," birthday girl said yes and other girl made a huge song and dance about cutting a sliver off the piece and getting a fork because she didn't want to touch it. Unfortunately she was wearing fingerless gloves that ended just below her first nuckle. This meant she managed to get glove fluff all over the remaining piece. So she finishes the sliver and looks at the piece for a good five minutes before asking if she could have more and could she just cut it with her fork (which had just left her mouth). Birthday girl had noticed the glove fibers and graciously told her she could have all of the last slice which disappeared in record time.

Now here's what I consider a complete lack of manners, surely the last slice of fabulous cake should have been left for the birthday girl to eat at her leisure? I thought people knew that? Obviously this girl didn't. What also annoyed me is the song and dance she made about eating it mainly because she was getting a ride home with me and was happily wasting time being a pain about the cake.

So what is your verdict? Was it alright to even ask for a sliver of the last slice? Where do you draw the line?