Category: Asking Eric

Dear Carpooling: At the risk of overanalyzing, I wonder if there’s a part of you that thinks it’s uncharitable to ask for reimbursement from a friend.

Dear Eric: How should I let the owner know his soggy fries are running me off?

Dear Eric: I opened up the door to the boys’ room and was shocked and horrified. My younger boy was bound with his hands behind him and duct tape over his mouth.

Dear Eric: I love my job but there is another employee there who likes to confide their life stories with me. It makes me upset and uncomfortable. I am a very compassionate person, but these stories are sad and depressing, which upsets my workday.

Dear Eric: Recently, it was “assumed” by my husband’s family that we would host a gathering for some out-of-town relatives. We have a better house for entertaining.

Dear Grandparent: Not every neighbor needs to be your friend. But since you have a relationship with the kids and with their mom, you might talk to your friend about the new arrangement and ask her how you can best be supportive.

Dear Eric: There is a part of me that feels it is the wife’s duty to make dinner, just as it is the husband’s duty to mow the lawn and take out the trash and that she is staying on this diet because it absolves her from having to plan meals and fix dinner.

Dear Picture: If you don’t move on, you’re going to be actively inviting the kind of chaos and unhappiness into your life that you sought to escape by leaving your marriage.

Dear Eric: My sister-in-law continues to address cards to me as “Mary Jones.” She has to know that is not my name, I include my “Smith” name on the return address of every card I send.

Dear Eric: We worry about this woman’s motives. He has been sending her money. One friend cautioned that she may be looking to marry him as a way to come to the United States.