Dear Abby: I recently attended a shower for a couple who were married only eight months ago. Two months after their wedding, the house they were renting burned to the ground and they lost everything they owned. The people in the community, as well as their co-workers, family and friends, responded immediately with money, food and clothing. (Following the fire, they had moved into her parents' home with no expenses whatsoever.)
They have been given two "replacement showers" to replace the gifts they had received from the four or five showers prior to their wedding. (I had attended one.)I recently learned that they were fully insured and have been compensated for everything they lost.
Now they are preparing to move into a very expensive home they're building. I'll probably be invited to a housewarming next - and most likely to one of the many baby showers for the child they are expecting in four months.
I don't mind helping people in time of need, but don't you think these "replacement showers" were tacky and a bit much to ask of people who had already given and done so much?
- Appalled Down South
Dear Appalled: It was indeed tacky for the couple to have accepted two "replacement showers," knowing their losses were completely covered by insurance. Shame on them.
When the news of their reimbursement gets out (and it will), many others will be "Appalled Down South."
Dear Abby: Regarding that letter from Earl Brown who complained about canned laughter on TV: Thank the good Lord! I was beginning to think maybe I was the only one who was irritated by it.
I wrote to NBC, ABC and CBS. Only NBC answered my letter, but apparently they have no intentions of changing their policy.
I have been trying to organize a group who will band together and change that policy. I would call it HALT (Humans Against Laugh Tracks), but I don't know how to go about it. I can't afford a lawyer, but maybe if I could get on one of those TV talk shows, I could rally enough support to get somewhere.
It seems to me with all the marvelous technology we have today, we should be able to get rid of those annoying laugh tracks without throwing the TV against the wall.
I know I am not alone. Maybe I should address my complaints to the sponsors.
- Daniel Risch, Newport, Ky.
Dear Daniel Risch: You could try. It may not help - but as my sainted grandmother used to say, "It couldn't hoit."
Dear Abby: You recently ran a column about the importance of wearing shoes that fit. In it, you mentioned the fact that one foot is usually larger than the other.
Abby, any shoe salesman worth his salt knows that with ladies, one foot is usually a little smaller than the other - never larger.
- "O. Susanna," Tulsa, Okla.
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