SOLUTIONS FOR SINGLES, OLD FRIENDS, NEW FRIENDS – OUR RESIDENT AGONY AUNT NENE HAS ALL THE ANSWERS!

QI own a small business and I have two individual customers that continually come into my shop and they smell really bad. My staff, other customers and I have to hold our breath when they are in the shop. After they leave we have to open all the doors and air the shop out. Is it rude to tell them, and how do I do it politely? I think I need to do something, because I feel like I will lose other customers if they keep making my shop smell. VIOLET, VIA EMAIL. A Not sure asking customers to leave your shop because they smell is politically correct. Burn strong scented melts – papaya is a great one for disguising bad odours. The market offers heaps of products to camouflage on-the-nose smells. There are also electric plugs with scented essential oils you can install in the shop. Open all the doors too. Having to ban them from the shop is a last resort. Q My husband and I are heading towards retirement and starting to make plans. The trouble is we want completely different things. He’d like to go and live in Bali or Malaysia for a while as it is so cheap and you can have a good lifestyle, but I really don’t want to leave Australia. We’ve got two daughters and three grandchildren and I don’t want to miss out on them growing up. I also want to be there to support my girls. Should I just let him go and do his own thing for a while, and hope he’ll come to his senses? KRISSIE, VIA EMAIL. A Let him go and do his own thing. He has to understand that you want to be there for your daughters and grandchildren and setting up house in Malaysia or Bali does not appeal to you. It may be cheap over there, but he could have a good lifestyle in Australia. You can plan your retirement with a doable budget without living overseas. Q Do you have any advice on a fractured and estranged relationship with a sibling? My sister and I don’t talk or see each other any more. We had personality clashes and disagreements over money, but it’s just absolute silence these days. If I try calling she doesn’t pick up the telephone – lets it ring out to voicemail. If I try sending a text – no reply. I don’t see the point in trying to telephone if it only rings out. Is it clear my sister isn’t interested in having a chat or resurrecting the relationship? Do you feel if my sister is interested or open to a chat she would have been in touch? Family relationships can be very different to the idealised sort you read about books. LISA, VIA EMAIL. A Sad as it sounds, you are flogging a dead horse. Your sister has made it obvious she is not interested in resurrecting any kind of relationship with you. You’ve clashed in the past over money, and she holds you responsible for whatever happened. Her silence should tell you she is not in a chatting mood. In your case, blood is not thicker than water. Your sister is not interested in restoring the relationship. Concentrate on people who treat you kindly.