I use it on any formal business correspondence, whether it's email, snail mail or (on very rare occasions) faxed. Definitely on anything where I don't know the recipient well and pretty much always on the first contact with anyone.
I'm much less formal on anything to someone I have more of a relationship with or if I'm wanting the correspondence to seem less formal (Hi Joe, just letting you know...)
I can't bring myself to send emails without some sort of greeting, although I don't think it's generally considered as rude as I feel if I do it.
I was taught two spaces, and most of the time I do two spaces out of habit. I don't think it is all that important,and I certainly wouldn't call someone ignorant or incorrect for doing it however they want.
In my opinion, the only place it makes any great difference is when you're close to the 140 characters in Twitter.
It sounds as if the restaurant was being a bit silly with this particular case, but I don't see a problem with being charged for piling up your plate & not eating all the food. It's not like they can put it back in the buffet after you've left. There's no reason you can't go back for seconds if you finish a plate and are still hungry.
It seems sad to give up on a kid that young, so I hope that they're very careful about labelling a kid as a psychopath. These days I'm sure that sort of diagnosis would come back to bite you in the bum somewhere down the track.
I definitely don't agree with bringing any sort of weapon to school, but the principal & staff that had been telling him to tone down his dress have to be disciplined for their role in it all. By the sounds of it, they pretty much encouraged the bulling by blaming him. You can't blame a kid for being desperate.
I'm much less formal on anything to someone I have more of a relationship with or if I'm wanting the correspondence to seem less formal (Hi Joe, just letting you know...)
I can't bring myself to send emails without some sort of greeting, although I don't think it's generally considered as rude as I feel if I do it.
In my opinion, the only place it makes any great difference is when you're close to the 140 characters in Twitter.