Grace under pressure

I got a package today from Athleta. Check out the opening instructions on the envelope. Am I the only one who finds the wording charming? “Gracefully”? Not just, “Tear along dotted line,” or, “Open with care,” or even, “Do not open with knife.”

I know the comma’s after “open” and not “gracefully,” but I prefer, “To open gracefully, tear along perforation,” to, “To open, gracefully tear along perforations,” as if grace is a gentle suggestion rather than a direction. But I’ll take it either way.

The lovely ladies of Athleta feel that even when opening what is basically a plastic bag in the privacy of my own living room, I will want to do it gracefully – or at least that I ought to do it gracefully. Right they are.