Thursday, April 21, 2011

Advice Illustrated: Make hay while the fat lady sings

Letter 1 is from a guy who met a great woman online. When they met, he saw she was overweight, which is not attractive to him. Prudence says to talk about it, and gives some gambits, and to give it a chance. I say, yeah. If it was really a deal breaker, you would have already broken the deal.

Video letter is from a woman who's moved to suburbia, where a neighbor mows unmown "tree lawns" (new term for me) in the neighborhood. This takes place a lot for LW, cuz she and BF work "very demanding jobs". Neighbor is now hinting that she wants to be paid for this service. Prudie compares the lady to a squeegee guy, and tells LW to mow her own damn lawn.
I say yeah. And your punishment for the "very demanding jobs" BS is to mow your lawn with a pair of cuticle scissors. Living in suburbs = mowing lawns. New excuse: "I didn't know these American mores because I did very demanding studies and never watched TV or went to the movies."

Letter 2 is from a frail fragile wisp of a woman whose Amazon SILs mock her when she doesn't haul enough hay on the two weekends a year she's expected to work on her husband's family farm. She's already run out on the other physically demanding family traditions, like running marathons, and would like to find a way to dump the hauling. Prudie says she's a grown up and can do as she pleases. It would be nice for her to do what she feels up to, but she is free to bail and head to the porch swing to sip some homemade lemonade.
I say: does she benefit financially from this farm? If so she should do something. If it's not hay hauling, let her find something else. Her husband knew he didn't marry a jock, so he should support her on this.

Terrorist
Letter 3 is so revolting I don't want to talk about it. My take: This is not a friend. You are stupid.

Letter 4 is tenant drama. LW's BF sat in an old chair owned by the landlord, and broke it. Several months later, the landlord is asking for the chair, purchased used for USD 30, to be replaced at a price of USD 300. She's offered to reimburse him for the original price. Is LW a jerk? Prudie says, no, and she owes him nothing. I say, you are not a jerk, but you are a fool. If you do have a lease and security deposit, prepare to fight to get it back. My suggestion is for your BF to finally go to the doctor to see about that debilitating backpain he's been having ever since he sat on the defective chair provided by your landlord.

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