ArcaMax

Dear Annie: I have a problem with my brother, "Josh." Josh seems to want to cut me and our mom out of his life. I'm indifferent to how much contact I have with my brother, but Mom is not. Josh is having surgery in a few days, and though he didn't directly state it, it's clear that he would prefer we not be at the hospital during the surgery. ...Read more

Dear Annie: OK, I realize there are innumerable insurmountable, earth-shaking universal problems in our world. This is definitely a "First World problem," but it is one that could be easily fixed.

Could manufacturers please mark their food products with expiration dates that are easy to locate and read? I probably spend a third of my grocery ...Read more

Dear Annie: You recently wrote that an adult daughter was wrong to discard her mother's pantry food without asking her first -- even food that had expired. What do you think about the current trend of girlfriends and wives discarding their boyfriends' and husbands' outdated clothes?

I read an article in a major newspaper by a fashionista ...Read more

Dear Annie: A couple of years ago, when I was starting a business, a friend put me in touch with her friend "Margaret," who had just started her own boutique marketing and public relations firm. I ended up hiring Margaret to help promote my new business. She was going to pitch articles about it to a few local publications (she was a part-time ...Read more

Dear Annie: I was recently shopping in a department store, when I heard the very loud screams of a child. Because the screaming was so abnormal, I wanted to seek the child out to see what was causing it. When I found the screamer, she was being pushed in a stroller by her mother, with a man (possibly her father) and two other women walking ...Read more

Dear Annie: I read your column daily, but this is my first time writing to you. My issue is with our adjacent neighbors. They have two small dogs. The man picks up the dog waste and puts it in a pile at the edge of our property. When they moved in a year and a half ago, I observed that he was dumping his grass clippings in my yard and asked ...Read more

Dear Annie: Next month, I will be moving into my boyfriend's apartment, which he shares with two other guys. They've been living together for about two years, and everyone gets along without issue. They all have their own space and work different hours, so depending on the time, it's kind of like living alone for each one. Though I am friends ...Read more

Dear Annie: I need advice regarding a recent nanny experience. I hired someone out of sheer desperation. I moved to a new town and have no friends or family around and am a single mother, and I had been with my 4-year-old son since March, one-on-one with no real breaks. I hired her from a reputable baby-sitting website that I paid to subscribe...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm writing about my 53-year-old stepson, "Sam." I helped to raise Sam starting when he was 11. His first mom was murdered with a handgun a year before. He was already difficult as a younger child and already into drugs, including alcohol. Things got worse. My husband and I made mistakes, mostly on the side of enabling. We've ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm worried that my boyfriend is abusing his prescription drugs. He goes for days without taking them and then takes several times the recommended doses all at once. He says he likes the intense rush he feels when he takes them this way. (They're stimulants.) I've expressed concern repeatedly. Every few months, things get really ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm not writing in about any problem you can solve. This letter is about a much bigger problem -- namely, the state of the world today. It's impossible to turn on the news without getting depressed, whether because of natural disasters or the bitter state of politics in our country. Addiction to alcohol, opioids and other drugs is ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have been trying to decipher my recent bad feelings toward a friend who is much wealthier than I am. We have known each other for a decade. Whereas she has been married to the same man for over 30 years, I was usually a single mother. Our daughters are about the same age, and we have the same jobs and make the same income. We ...Read more

Dear Annie: It's important to have etiquette on the phone, no matter to whom you are speaking. When you take the time to call someone but the person is preoccupied, talks over you or doesn't say "excuse me" when someone in the room is speaking to him or her while you're on the phone, it's only normal to want to end the call. This has been ...Read more

Dear Annie: My best friend's 20-something-year-old stepdaughter, "Tina," unsuccessfully attempted to seduce my husband of 25 years, "Brad." He had contact with Tina through a business connection. He had complained repeatedly to me that she was coming on to him, but I thought he was exaggerating until the incident happened.

Tina emailed Brad ...Read more

Dear Annie: As a college student with no job, I made the foolish decision to sign a lease with a friend to move in together.

After she made the down payment, I realized there was no way I could afford it and backed out of the lease, leaving my friend about $675 in the hole. She was naturally upset, and my stupid and selfish act basically ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am seeking some advice. I have a disability, and my place of employment is discriminating against me based on that disability. I finally filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and waited. Having heard nothing, I phoned just to make sure the EEOC got the forms. After repeatedly calling, I finally had a ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am married to a man with two children from a previous marriage. They are adults. My husband is 15 years my senior, and he married early the first time, so long story short, his children are only four and six years younger than I am. The problem is with his daughter.

She really doesn't have much of a social life and because of ...Read more

Dear Annie: I hope you can offer a solution to my dilemma. Over the Fourth of July, I hosted a party at my riverfront home. Most of the guests were my son's friends, whom I get along with, and I am always happy when they bring their kids, because then my grandbabies have little ones to play with. My issue is that for the past few years at my ...Read more

Dear Annie: My family (my husband, our young kids and I) vacations with two other families once or twice a year. My husband went to school with the other two husbands, and they are best friends. I have developed great friendships with their wives, and our kids are all similar ages and get along.

We have a great time, but one of the husbands ...Read more

Dear Annie: My younger brother lives many states away. Sadly, about five years ago, he decided that I had caused him many sorrows and pains, so he chose to stop contact. He said little about what I had done or said to cause that decision.

I miss him and his family a lot and have tried to reconcile. He simply does not respond. I have ...Read more