Creating a comic effect by talking about the embarrassing situation of meeting one's own parents unexpectedly at the theater with the new boyfriend, in "Kiss and Tell", Alain de Botton characterizes the girl's father as a slow reacting, but smart man in order to show that although children think they have nothing in common with their parents, they might actually be pretty similar.
After the girl Isabel can't get out of her parent's way in the theater, they meet at the bar. She tries to introduce her new boyfriend. Already to her "How are you dad?" he doesn't respond right away. She has to asks a second time, and he tells her about the lamps on the ceiling. He knows a lot about those Japanese bulbs, so he seems really smart. To introducing of her boyfriend, only the mother responds and the dad shifts to another topic right away. It doesn't look like he really cares or grasps what his daughter told him. He makes the impression of being a little in his own world and not really in the theater with his family.
Isabel was shocked to see her parents doing the same thing for fun as she did, which relates to the fact, that she is more similar to them than she would ever think, although her social awareness seems to be on a higher level than her parents.
Good insight on what the characters are really like!
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