Problems
Dear Mary: what should I do if I run into my ex on holiday?
Q. A woman I have known for many years and who helped look after my mother has just had her…
Dear Mary: how can I tell my fellow bridesmaid that her speech is waffling?
Q. A few years ago friends from New Zealand came to stay with us for what they said would be…
Dear Mary: How should I have dealt with a seat thief?
Q. When guests are leaving our house they sometimes ask: ‘Would you like me to strip my bed?’ The truthful…
Dear Mary: Help! I have four girlfriends
Q. I am 26 and my problem is that I have four girlfriends. None of them knows about the other…
Dear Mary: how can I stop someone from treating a waiter badly?
Q. A gang of us have rented a house in Portugal. We have all been friends since school, but one…
Dear Mary: can I accuse a writer of using AI?
Q. I work at a magazine and am occasionally (and perhaps with increasing frequency) sent articles that strike me as…
Dear Mary: What should I do if the view’s no good with my free tickets to Wimbledon?
Q. Around this time of year a friend, who somehow gets hold of tickets through an agency, usually asks me…
Dear Mary: how can I wangle a private jet invitation?
Q. Mary, can you rule on an aspect of private jet etiquette? I have been invited to a house party…
Dear Mary: how do I stop friends buying me pet-themed presents?
Q. I have been working in a large restaurant alongside a very attractive, although shy, girl. I live near the…
Dear Mary: how can I get rid of my friends’ wives from our WhatsApp group?
Q. When I left university I set up a WhatsApp group with several male friends to cover our interest in…
Dear Mary: how can I shut up a noisy fellow diner?
Q. I was lunching at a writers’ club in Lexington Street. It is a small but agreeable space. At one…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my husband from interrupting?
Q. My husband worked in an office for 25 years and now works from home. As well as the interaction…
Dear Mary: should guests offer to reimburse me for charging their electric car at my house?
Q. I’m an artist and work from home painting people’s pets from photographs. While working I take a lot of…
Dear Mary: how can I interrupt a gossipy friend who won’t shut up?
Q. I went to a party last weekend and my father asked me to go and introduce myself if I…
Dear Mary: how can I tell a friend she has Mounjaro face?
Q. Like many women of a certain age, I’m ‘on the pen’. I’ve lost about 20lb on Mounjaro, which I…
Dear Mary: how can I stop rich friends splitting the bill?
Q. I have the sort of job that means I am regularly recruiting new young talent. Now when I go…
Dear Mary: Is my dentist profiting from my gold filling?
Q. I went to stay in the new house of a close, but not very close, friend. She put me…
Dear Mary: how can I get my snobby mother to accept a live-in carer?
Q. I have a meeting scheduled with a possible business associate who asked me to buy a certain book on…
Dear Mary: do I have to give my cleaner a payrise?
Q. A new neighbour (a weekender from London) asked me if I’d be prepared to pass on the contact details…
Dear Mary: How can I stop people pitying me for being made redundant?
Q. I have just got off a nine-hour overnight flight from Miami to Heathrow. I was in premium economy in…
Dear Mary: how can I shut down my husband’s screaming yawns?
Q. I run a busy company with a workforce of 150, where I need to have short, to-the-point discussions with…
Dear Mary: How can I persuade a friend to stop allowing her dog to lick her plate?
Q. My grandson has just failed his driving test for the fifth time and yet I know, from his chauffeuring…
Dear Mary: How do we get more men to our singles’ events?
Q. Last year I decided to share a flat with an old, but not very close, friend from school. It…
Dear Mary: do my AirPods make me look like an imbecile?
Q. My printer is broken, so I asked my neighbour to print off a letter for me. It was from…
Dear Mary: how can I set my daughter up with a nice young man?
Q. I am soon to entertain a house party on a sporting estate. We took the same house last year…
