Alcoholic friend should abstain from camping
You cannot count on others abstaining from alcohol, and -- if they are more attached to their relationship to alcohol than their relationship with him -- they will choose to drink.
The most responsible thing is to tell your recovering friend that you have tried, but cannot guarantee that others will not drink. Encourage him to connect with his sponsor and perhaps attend support meetings instead of camping, but (of course) leave the final decision up to him.
Dear Amy: I have an otherwise lovely co-worker who constantly whistles in our open-concept office. At our previous location, there were cubicle walls that absorbed some of the sound, but in our current space there is nowhere to hide.
I tried mentioning it to our mutual supervisor, who said, "Oh, I like the whistling!"
I have no problem mentioning to other co-workers that their music is disturbing or that they aren't using their inside voice and I can't hear my telephone conversation.
However, I don't want to be the office Grinch. If she is doing something many think of as "joyful," I don't want to admit that it is making concentration difficult for me.
Ideas?
-- Whistled Out
Dear Whistled: This situation reminds me of "The Office," where character Michael Scott's musical stylings were so disruptive.
Listening to someone whistle throughout the day would be torturous for many. For me, whistling is the aural equivalent of being tied to a chair with a swinging bare lightbulb overhead -- I would confess to anything to have it stop.
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