Don’t ever ask a woman when she is due.

Don’t assume she’s expecting, even if you’re at “Babies-R-Us” and she’s wearing a baggy t-shirt printed with a big arrow pointing to her bellybutton that says “BABY.”

You know what they say about people who “assume,” don’t you? It makes an ASS out of U and ME. There is no fix for this faux pas: false assumptions can faze a friendship faster than you can say, “Forgive me.”

But you really do need to know how much furniture Ms. Jones can afford. You need to know how it will be used. You need to know about her family. You need to know what she likes.

How do you find out about Ms. Jones without making – or, worse yet, revealing – your assumptions?