Whooooops

Some of the best pieces of advice I ever received came from older guys I worked with during my checkered career. The produce guy at the A&P once leaned into a group conversation a few of us were having instead of working, and he said, "Boys, before you tell a woman her nylons are sagging, make damn sure she's wearing nylons!"

Noted, and I guess he found out that out the hard way. Also, don't make the mistake I saw a guy make one October 30, by pointing and laughing at someone else's get-up! "What are you supposed to be, Morticia Addams or something?" he guffawed, only to be told that a) Halloween was the next day and b) that clingy black dress was considered high class among those who had any.

And I believe it was Sarah Silverman who coached us all never to congratulate a woman on her pregnancy "unless you actually see a baby coming out of her." Good advice. 

All this is to help us all guard against being like Richard Fairman, critic for the Financial Times. Reviewing opening night of Das Rheingold at the Royal Opera House, Fairman said that 81-year-old actress Rose Knox-Peebles's make-up was "frightful." 

It's only natural!

And then, he found out she wasn't wearing makeup. Fairman said that Ms. Rose Knox-Peebles was "made up to look quite a fright." Knox-Peebles wrote to the paper: "This is not so. I wore no make-up – the 'fright' look is all naturally mine."