Problems
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…
Dear Mary: How can I get enough champagne at a party?
Q. I had the same Spanish housekeeper for 25 years and was devoted to her, and she to me. She…
Dear Mary: Where should I seat Hollywood stars at dinner?
Q. My husband and I have recently made very good friends with some neighbours in France. They know I am…
Dear Mary: how can I point out a friend’s unsightly nose hair?
Q. I’m the author of 14 books, mostly historical fiction but a few children’s books, all published by a major…
Dear Mary: how can I relax about the clothes moths in my home?
Q. Having previously lived in the country in a field with my nearest neighbour not even visible, I recently moved…
Dear Mary: how can I tell young people to pipe down at dinner parties?
Q. I find that when I go to mixed-age dinner parties the young all seem to be shouting. How can…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my husband falling asleep at the theatre?
Q. At the age of 50 my brother-in-law has discovered a talent for acting and singing. He has joined a…
Dear Mary: how can I stop guests waking too early?
Q. I meet a very old and dear friend for lunch on a regular basis. We meet at a lovely…
Dear Mary: How do I avoid my neighbours on holiday?
Q. We have some neighbours who we don’t mind at all – they are perfectly nice, just not part of…
Dear Mary: how can I deter the creep at my pub quiz?
Q. I have been pitched into a social dilemma regarding Glyndebourne, which I live near to but don’t go to…
Dear Mary: is it rude to listen to sport at a wedding?
Q. We live in the countryside, where the door is always open. Last week when it was sunny we had…
