Readers, please send your letters. They can be emails, formal letters or handwritten notes. They are edited solely for grammar and spelling. Also, they are sometimes edited for length.
Dear Doctor Love,
My sister and I are roommates We found a great three bedroom place that we liked a lot but we knew that the only way we could afford it is if we had a third roommate. We put the word out and we got another room mate to split the rent. Unfortunately, the only thing she is good for is that she pays the rent on time. Otherwise, she has put us through hell. My sister and I usually eat at our mother’s house. The new girl is the only one that uses the kitchen. The sink is always full of dirty dishes with food still in them. She leaves plates in her bedroom for two or three days at a time. She plays loud music all night long. The washing machine is always full of her dirty clothes that are “soaking.”
For months we have tried to get her to move but she just laughs at us. What can we do?
/s/ Burned
Dear Burned,
There is a simple solution for your problem. You said she leaves plates in her room. Go into her room when she is out. Pull a little section of that thin cloth that is stapled to the bottom of the box springs. High up on the wooden part of the box spring attach a lobster tail with thumbtacks. Re-staple the cloth. Because she leaves food in her room she will never find it. She will be gone within a week.
Dear Doctor Love,
I have a friend that I have watched turn into an alcoholic. I have tried to talk to her about her problem but she says that she does not have a problem and steers the conversation to something else. Then she will ask me to buy her a drink when she has already had six or seven beers. I would like to help but I don’t know how to get through to her. She will ask me to meet her someplace and if I am thirty minutes late she is already working on her third or fourth beer. Another thirty minutes and she has had three more beers and her speech is slurred. This is also when she usually starts getting nasty and mean.
What can I do to help?
/s/ Highly Concerned
Dear Concerned,
You need Alcoholics Anonymous more than you need Doctor Love. If she won’t go to the meetings you can go and get some truly sound advice on how to deal with this.
