Dear Harriette

DEAR HARRIETTE: I am a 35-year-old woman who is married to a man four years older than me. Within a year of landing my first high-paying job, I was unfortunately laid off due to budget cuts. The day that I lost my job, I told my husband that I would need him to support me…

Harriette Cole DEAR HARRIETTE: I’ve started working in nightlife, and it makes perfect sense for my schedule. I’m a full-time student during the week, and I rack up a lot of tips on the weekend by working the bar at a popular nightclub. I need to have a job to help pay for my expenses.…

DEAR HARRIETTE: Not long ago, I ended things with a person I had been in a relationship with for five years. Without a doubt the hardest part of the breakup has been having to re-explain it to all those who knew us as a couple. I am wishing that everybody would mind their business and…

Harriette Cole DEAR HARRIETTE: My husband is a Gemini, and boy does he act like one. He treats me so nicely when we are in public. But the moment we get home or out of earshot of other people, he is mean and nasty. It’s kind of shocking how he behaves. We just went to…

Harriette Cole DEAR HARRIETTE: My daughter and I have just completed the college application process, and we are emotionally and physically exhausted. She is an excellent student and a hard worker. She applied to a ton of colleges, and while she got in to a number of them, none was her favorite. She picked a…

Hariette Cole DEAR HARRIETTE: I am always the plus-one for a couple of my friends. As the single member of my friend group, they typically call on me at the last minute to go with them to various activities. I do my best to be available, and usually itís fun. My issue is that when…

Hariette Cole DEAR HARRIETTE: Somebody gave my daughter a black eye while she was away at college, and she didn’t tell me. I had to find out from a friend. I am furious and have a million questions, but my daughter refuses to tell me who gave her a black eye. I don’t know who…

Harriette Cole DEAR HARRIETTE: I am at my wits’ end. My husband is a pot smoker. That is not news. But ever since quarantine started two years ago and we found ourselves at home all day together, he has smoked pot nearly every day — morning, noon and night. It is no longer recreational. There…

DEAR HARRIETTE: My former best friend called me the other day and told me she needed to speak to me about something important. She hosts a popular podcast series and told me that her newest episode would be about our friendship and the reason we grew apart. She briefed me on what she said about…

DEAR HARRIETTE: It is way too expensive to visit my family, but they get deeply offended if I don’t. I live in New York, and my family lives in Hawaii. They never offer to buy my ticket, but they insist that I come and stay with them once or twice a year. I simply can’t…