Dear Eric: I am a female executive employed by a large global corporation. It is a common practice in my workplace, and an expectation of my job, that I meet with colleagues, customers and service providers, sometimes while traveling for work, often solo, often for business lunches and dinners at restaurants.
Dear Eric: I am a man in my 50s who has fulfilled a 10-year dream: I have written, produced and starred in a comedy web series. I worked diligently on the scripting, put up my own funding, hired professional lighting, sound and editing. Three weeks after it was cut, I uploaded it to a popular comedy website. To my dismay, I received some very negative, even cruel comments. Fortunately, I also received positive feedback.
Dear Eric: Today after dropping off groceries, my wife noted that the refrigerator, in her opinion, had an unpleasant odor and was very quick to share her opinion with my son-in-law. She is also rather critical of many of his habits. And her opinions are not without merit. But my mother always said, “less said, better mended.”
Dear Eric: Lately some of my friends who have joined me on these trips have now become buddies with my mom and are asking her if they can stay up there without me. Now the first time this happened, the friend called me and asked if I was OK with him asking, but the second time it was a different friend wanting to stay there with his girlfriend and he never asked me.
Dear Eric: My brother asked me if he could borrow $5,000, and he would start making payments to pay it back. For the sake of my niece and nephew, I loaned him the money. Unbeknownst to me, my brother was borrowing money from everyone in the family. Soon, everyone in the family found out what he was doing and cut him off.
Dear Eric: I had a bad falling out from a very toxic job a few months ago. Since it ended, I’ve been dealing with feelings of shame and betrayal, but I’m doing what I can to clean the fallout from my brain. I’m in therapy, I’ve taken up some new hobbies, and I’m reconnecting with old friends. I’m taking some time off from full-time employment (I still have a small side hustle), but I have some savings and I’m taking care to protect my “on ramp” for a future job search.
Dear Eric: We took our son and his family in and several months later they found a new situation and moved out. The trouble is they didn’t take all their stuff and after nine months they seem unable, even unwilling to do so. Half of my two-car garage is full and a defunct and non-maintained stand-up swimming pool is an eyesore in my yard.
Dear Anna, A few weeks ago, my wife’s friend’s husband (I know, classic game of telephone) told me that my wife had a brief fling with someone at work. He was scant on details so I don’t know if it was emotional or physical or how far it went. Apparently, she ended it quickly, felt […]
Dear Anna, I was 23 when I finally got my own place. There was this attractive guy who lived down the hall from me and we had some flirty exchanges that eventually led to a hookup. Just a one-time thing, and afterward we’d only exchange quick hellos if we ran into each other. A few […]
Dear Eric: My husband and I have worked hard to create consistent communication in our relationship that has lasted 10 years. We have both struggled to get to a good place, which we thought we had achieved.