Landlord has become way too handy toward tenant
-- Small Town Girl
Dear Small Town: You should prepare yourself for the likelihood that "Clara" will never reveal her motives for inventing and spreading gossip about you.
Gossip is about power and social currency. The person spreading it feels powerful being "in the know." She also believes that putting someone else down through malicious and muckraking gossip increases her own social standing.
You should state your own truth and ask her to explain her motives. Tell her you would appreciate her correcting her misinformation, as well as an apology.
I hope you can do this, regardless of her reaction, because standing up for yourself is both graceful and empowering. That's how you get "closure."
Dear Amy: Regarding the letter from "Torn," I had an emotional affair with my boss many years ago. I met with a therapist after I left that job. She counseled that I never see him again.
By the time he and I met again a decade later, our ardor had cooled to the point where I wondered what I ever saw in him.
Torn should consider a "normalization meeting" with her husband, instead of her affair partner.
-- Glad I Know Better Now
Dear Glad: Bingo!
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(You can contact Amy Dickinson via email: askamy@amydickinson.com. Readers may send postal mail to Amy Dickinson, c/o Tribune Content Agency, 16650 Westgrove Drive, Suite 175, Addison, Texas, 75001. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or "like" her on Facebook.)
