Wife’s past promiscuity eats away at husband

Dear Annie: My wife and I have been together since we were just out of high school. We’ve been married for 18 years, and we have three glorious children. We have a great relationship, but I recently discovered she was extremely promiscuous in high school and found out she slept with many of our friends, some of whom are still in our social circle. I have always had a jealous nature, and now the jealousy is overwhelming my daily thoughts. I still feel cheated on and don’t look at her the way I once did. I have not brought it up with her, because I know she will get super defensive, and I know she will not go to counselling because of the nature of the topic. Any insight into getting over this would be appreciated. —Jealous in Wisconsin

Dear Jealous: Though I generally champion the importance of talking every problem out with a romantic partner, unfounded jealousy is the exception. If you aired your feelings, they’d grow like fanned flames. You’d most likely make your wife feel defensive, and her defensiveness would in turn make you feel less secure about the marriage. Deprive these fiery feelings of oxygen and they’ll eventually die out.

It’s also not worth talking about it with her because this is about you, not your relationship.

Do some digging and try to get to the root of your insecurity. And if the obsessive thoughts won’t stop nagging you, consider therapy.

Dear Annie: I recently visited a small deli-type restaurant and ordered a takeout square of lasagna. I waited for my order, and when I received it, I placed several bucks in the tip jar — overly generous, as my tab was only $6 — and walked back to my camper. When I opened my bag, I found that my lasagna was a very small edge slice, and it was burned black — not even close to being edible. I am mildly disabled, enough that a stroll back to the restaurant was too much for my bad knees.

I would like to know when a tip went from being a reward for exemplary service to a ransom for basic decency. I sure wish I had my tip money back for that lasagna.

Alert to owners: Do you know how your employees are treating your customers? I’ll surely never return, nor will many of the people I related my experience to. Alert to service personnel: What are you going to do when the business where you work folds because customers don’t come back? —Lost Customer in Wilmington

Dear Customer: It sounds as if you didn’t give this server a chance to earn her tip. Next time, speak up. If a restaurant wants to stay in business, it’ll do what it can to keep customers happy.