Not a vacation paradise

Dear Amy: For over a decade my family and another close family of friends, “the Smiths,” have vacationed together on our favorite island off the Southern coast.

Our children view them as family and adore the parents and their children (who are the same age as ours).

The Smiths are much more affluent than we, and owned their own home on the island for years while we rented a house nearby.

Last year they sold their home (for an enormous profit, I might add), so now they must also rent a home for our beloved trip.

Imagine our surprise when we learned this year that they booked the very same rental house we have used for several years.

This is incredibly hurtful, but especially because we have been in a tumultuous financial situation and depended on the significant “repeat renter discount” we received from the owners.

We understand that we have zero right to control a rental unit, but we are frankly heartbroken that our friends seemed to have no sense of this possibly being hurtful toward us.

We are unsure of how to move forward.

Should we say something about our hurt feelings just to clear the air?

Should we say nothing and take the hint that maybe they don’t feel the same way toward us and not go on the trip this year?

Or act like nothing’s wrong, pay for a more expensive rental and let it go?

Sad and Confused

Dear Sad: It is almost impossible to imagine that these savvy homeowners on a vacation island are unaware of how attached annual renters get to their usual rental property. Regular renters are prized by landlords, who offer discounts to reliable annual tenants as both reward and incentive. Often, landlords give their “regulars” a right of first refusal before they open their property to new tenants; I wonder why your landlord didn’t do this for you.

Yes, the Smiths’ choice to rent this house themselves leaves you scrambling.

You could respond to this by saying, quite frankly, “You guys snapped up the house we’ve been renting, and now we’re scrambling to find a new rental. I’m not sure we’ll be able to find a place we can afford, so if you know of anything, please let us know. We’re going to have to leave our plans up in the air for now. We’re all disappointed.”

Dear Amy: After a fairly long job search, I was finally offered a position with a firm I’d interviewed with three times over many months.

I was thrilled to finally get an offer and accepted the position. I’m supposed to start in two weeks.

Well, as luck (and karma) would have it, I’ve just received a solid offer from another firm, which pays more and is probably a better fit.

Do I have to go with the first offer, or can I decline it, even after accepting it?

Blessed With Choices

Dear Blessed: This situation surely happens with some regularity, as candidates pursue many leads at once. You are obligated to work in the position that is best suited for you.

Accept the second-offered position, and once your hire is verified and you have a solid start-date, contact the first company to tell them you are going to renege on their offer. Apologize for the inconvenience to them, but say that you feel obligated to accept the offer that is best suited for you.