Business owner struck dumb by bigoted rant
DEAR ABBY: I am a small business owner. My store has local (repeat) and onetime customers. The other day, while checking out, one of my local customers spewed out a verbal and extremely bigoted rant. I was stunned speechless. I felt I should do something, but I wasn't sure what it should be. I have started losing sleep over it. If it happens again, should I remain silent and keep the peace, or stand up for all Americans and lose this customer and probably more?
— Freaked Out in Florida DEAR FREAKED OUT: If the rant your bigoted customer spewed was aimed at another shopper, you had a responsibility to protect the victim of the onslaught. State firmly that you don't want that kind of talk in your establishment. While doing that may (or may not) lose you a few customers, you would at least be able to sleep better than you're sleeping now. It may also GAIN you some customers.
DEAR ABBY: I have been with the same doctor for 15 years, only requiring an annual checkup. The problem is, the office is about a 40-minute drive, longer if I hit a rush hour. I have stayed with the provider because the care is so good. However, I recently found a doctor who is 10 minutes away and provides the same quality of care. Do I call the original doctor to let them know I am leaving the practice? Write a note? Leave it alone? What is the proper protocol?
— Good Patient in Michigan
DEAR PATIENT: Contact your longtime doctor's office and ask either that your medical records be sent to your new doctor's office. It would be nice if you wrote a letter thanking him/her for taking such good care of you all these years and explain that the commute has become more than you can now handle.
DEAR ABBY: I was sitting around bored with nothing to do and started thinking about my classmates from 1960. I hadn't seen or heard from some of them in more than 55 years, so I decided to call them and found all but two. Boy, was it ever worth it! Most of the conversations lasted 30 minutes or more. I enjoyed hearing their voices and reminiscing about old times.
I couldn't believe how quickly the day went by. It made me feel great, and I hope it did the same for them. When I told them why I was calling, some of them thought it was such a good idea they were going to do it too. Maybe others will want to consider this. Try it. It's worth it.
— Catching Up in Wisconsin
DEAR CATCHING UP: Many people have been using this quarantine period to reconnect with long-lost friends, and I highly recommend it.