Several years ago, a couple invited me and my wife to dinner. We had known this couple casually for quite some time. They were nice, but far from entertaining. We couldn’t think of a good excuse to refuse, so we accepted. Things played out exactly as we had imagined: the dinner party was beyond tedious. Nevertheless, we felt obliged to invite them to our home a few months later. The constraint of reciprocity had now presented us with two wearisome evenings. And, lo and behold, a few weeks later a follow-up invitation from them arrived. I wonder how many dinner parties have been endured in the
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