Depicting a young man witness his date have a hilariously embarassing encounter with her parents in Kiss and Tell, Alain de Botton takes advantage of the dates bystander point of view to show that despite the efforts of kids to distance themselves from their parents and try their best "not to recognize" the similaraties, they clearly exist. Isabel is embarassed by her father's nerdy diction, referring to his daughter as "my bean." Her mother's unintentionally degrading remarks about her cleavage, or lack thereof, are equally mortifying. And despite Isabel's evident horror at the behavior of her parents, it is amusing to watch this dialogue unfold through the eyes of the uninvolved boyfriend. Despite her embarassment, there is also humor in the fact that of all the possible things to do on this night, both Isabel and her parents decided to see the same play and go to the same bar afterward. No matter how much she tried to wish away the blood relation to Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, their indentical tastes in Spanish domestic dramas proves that they will always be a part of the same domestic drama. Knowing that Isabel's boyfriend still had a chance to avoid having crazy in-laws made this tale entertaining rather than terrifying.