Compromise, anya, compromise and tact. When I was about 15 I was invited to tea by a friend of the same age, whose mother had left everything ready for her to prepare - cold meat and salad. Friend wasn't sure whether to peel the cucumber or not, so she peeled down one half and left the other. Each slice had a semicircle of peel on it, so was neither peeled nor unpeeled. A no-win solution.