'Captain Boredom' to the Rescue Again!

A recent letter to Miss Manners yielded a couple of answers that fell within the bounds of etiquette, the preferred answer helping me see a new advantage of a strategy for dealing with difficult people I have discussed before. (That strategy is usually called "gray rock.")The letter writer poses a question that comes with the complication that the difficult person is a neighbor. Thus, while a blunt affirmative might be an appropriate answer to Have I done something to offend you?, the writer seems to want an answer that better reduces future engagement with someone who won't be going away any time soon. Miss Manners replies:What you want is a way to make her leave you alone, which can be accomplished with your best look of deep concern and the return question of, "What ever would make you say that?" Then appear not to be paying too much attention when she answers, in the hope that she will review her own actions.This is classic gray rock, and I agree with some of the commenters that…