Work abroad makes waves back home

Dear Abby: I took an assignment with my company that posted me to Hong Kong for two years. My adult children were supportive, although my youngest was not especially happy about it. We video chat with our kids. We have also visited multiple times. We have also offered to pay for them to visit us as often as they would like.

My company has asked me to stay one more year because I haven’t completely finished what I was sent here to do. I’m inclined to do it. My youngest child, however, is so angry that she won’t talk to me. Am I choosing my job over my children?

Professional Woman From Michigan Dear Professional Woman: Yes, you are, but there’s a practical reason for it. Also, your adult “children” aren’t children anymore, even though your youngest is acting like one. If you feel you should stay in Hong Kong to complete your assignment, that is what you need to do. Dear Abby: I am responding to “Unsure in the West” (Oct. 9). You advised that you “see nothing wrong with what she did” in opening a box in a grocery store and eating some of the contents before paying at the checkout. Legally, eating or using the contents of an unpaid item in the aisle is considered shoplifting. The perpetrator can be prosecuted. I am a certified protection professional. While the intent may not be to “steal,” retailers require that items in their stores be paid for before they can be used or eaten. An employee of mine working in a major grocery chain took a bottle of eye drops and used them while he was in the aisle. He was holding the exact change in his hand as he walked to the checkout. Before he could get there, he was arrested by store security. As a courtesy to me, the chain agreed to reinstate him if he passed a liedetector test determining his “intent to steal.” (He passed the test.)

Allan in Yonkers Dear Allan: Thank you for your letter. Other readers also cited firsthand experiences working in the retail field. Several of them mentioned that it is impossible to correctly charge for food that is sold by weight if someone has eaten some. Others said that customers sometimes get to the register and realize they have left their wallet at home, or their credit card is rejected. A reader also suggested that if someone wants to pay for food after consuming it, that’s what restaurants are for.