Neighbor miffed about garbage bin

Dear Miss Manners: I live in a city that uses large trash bins, which we wheel out on certain days for pickup. Last week, as the trash collectors drove by, I realized I had forgotten to take my bin out. I quickly wheeled my bin across the street, as the truck does that side later.

A few minutes later, the neighbor whose house I had put my bin in front of (on the street, not her property) knocked on my door. She asked me why I had put my bin in front of her house. I told her what had happened. She told me it was rude, and that next time I should write her a note.

I was a bit flabbergasted, as A. She has a driveway, so I was not blocking her parking space, B. It's a pandemic and our street is pretty empty right now, and C. When it's not a pandemic, we live on a busy street where unknown cars are almost always parked in front of our houses.

Am I missing some etiquette, or is this lady crazy?

Gentle reader: Stir-crazy, perhaps. And not very nice.

Miss Manners would think that people had more important things to worry about than temporary trash can placement. But then, you probably have more important concerns than getting into a tiff with a neighbor. A pleasant "I'll try not to do it again, but I'll let you know if I have to" should close the matter.

Dear Miss Manners: You receive a lot of questions about cutting people from relationships. Why is it unacceptable to just say, gently, "I think our relationship is over because of X, Y and Z. I don't think we really have much to discuss. I wish you well, but in light of this realization, I do not want to be your friend."

Thus the prevalence of ghosting. But being shunned is an extreme punishment, augmented with an unnerving and unending sense of doubt. So ghosting, and even sterner methods (such as restraining orders), should be reserved for those who refuse to accept the break.

Ordinary breakups deserve something gentler. However, even Miss Manners cannot devise a charming way to say, "Go away; I've had enough of you." She can only beg you to do the minimal damage that gets the job done.

So the kind dumper assumes the blame. Hence that old standby, "It's not you, it's me," rather than your version of "It's you." And "This is not a good time for me" is better than "I'll never have time for you."

True, no one believes those euphemisms. But they hurt less. And surely you owe that much to someone for whom you must have at least once cared.