Nurse won’t stop snooping in family medical records
DEAR ABBY: I put a family member through nursing school. Since becoming an R.N. and getting a job in a hospital, he has told me that, with “the best intentions,” he periodically reviews the medical records of other family members.
I have told him what he’s doing is illegal and inappropriate, yet he continues.
If I file a formal complaint, his career will be over and he could possibly even face jail time. I do not wish to do that.
However, I need advice on how to keep him out of my private medical records. — FED UP OUT WEST
DEAR FED UP: Your relative doesn’t have the “best of intentions.” Your relative is nosy! Because telling him how you feel about what he’s doing hasn’t stopped him, the only way to ensure your privacy is to turn him in.
DEAR ABBY: Why can’t drivers be more careful about how they park? Yesterday it happened again. I couldn’t get into my car because someone had parked so close I couldn’t open the door and squeeze in. Luckily, I was the passenger, and my husband was able to get into his side and pull back so I could get in.
Does this happen to other people? What can you do but stand there and wait for the driver to show up and move his or her vehicle? I wish drivers would be more careful about parking between the lines instead of so close to the car(s) next to them. — STUCK IN CANADA
DEAR STUCK: What happened to you is a fairly common occurrence when folks are in a hurry, distracted or lack the courtesy to properly park their vehicles.
It has happened to me. Fortunately, I’m limber enough that I was able to crawl into the driver’s seat from the passenger side, but it wasn’t easy.
I’m printing your letter in the hope that it will serve to remind drivers that there are other people on the road and in the parking lot, and not to forget their manners because they happen to be in a rush.
DEAR ABBY: I’m 13 and in seventh grade. I have a friend whose parents are divorced, and she really dislikes her stepmom.
She talks bad about her, and she tells me she makes up really weird rules. She sometimes talks bad about her dad, too, and she told me they were moving over spring break. Now she’s saying that they’re not moving until summer. I’m starting to think some of the stuff she says isn’t true.
What should I do? Believe everything she says, or question everything she says? —CONFUSED IN MISSOURI
DEAR CONFUSED: If the things that someone tells you don’t add up, it’s sensible to be skeptical.
As to her family’s planned move, in just a few weeks you will know the answer to your question — if you don’t have a strong suspicion already.
DEAR ABBY: After 34 years of marriage, I realized that I must “earn the right” to have sex. This morning I agreed to go to a particular movie my wife wants me to see with her in exchange for sex.
I now recognize that this trading started years ago, and I just let it slide. But now I realize that what I call “trading for favours” has entered other aspects of our relationship: “Do this for me, and I’ll do that for you.”
I have a pretty thick skin, but more and more, I’m concluding this is a game that I’d rather not play. Can you give me any advice as to where we can go for help? I have no problem involving her in any solution. — MUST EARN THE RIGHT
DEAR MUST EARN THE RIGHT: I agree that your wife must be a part of the solution to your problem. Because the old “pay for play” no longer suits you, the place to seek help would be the office of a licensed marriage counselor. I wish you luck, because decades-old dynamics can be hard to change.