Dear Abby: I do not enjoy looking at women who wear pants–especially the polyester kind. I am an old-fashioned man, who wants to be able to tell the difference between men and women, front or back. Men are not allowed to dress like women in public, but women are allowed to dress like men. This is unfair. In the first place, very few women look good in pants–and the ones who look the worst in them are the ones who insist on wearing them.
When I date a woman who shows up in slacks, I would not embarrass her by asking her to change. After all, she dresses to please herself, and I have no right to tell her to change to suit me, so I just do not ask her out again. No explanation necessary.
Perhaps other readers also have feelings that should be aired. And how do you feel about it?
Al in Santa Barbara
Dear Al: You`re being both foolish and unfair for summarily writing a woman off without telling her the reason is because she showed up in pants on the first date!
A quality woman would appreciate knowing in order to (a) change, or (b)
write YOU off.
Dear Abby: My wife flashed your article on the aggressive male driver under my nose, and you played judge and jury after hearing only her side of it.
Suppose I tell you that my wife is a backseat driver, and for 40 years she has been a nervous wreck in every car she rides in. She claims she is a better driver than me, but she refuses to drive because she`s afraid of criticism.
She tells me how fast to drive, what lane to use and when to turn. She always asks me questions such as, ”Why is that motorcycle so close to us?”
and, ”Why is that truck in our lane?” Also, ”Why are you speeding?” (I am doing 56 miles an hour in a 55-mile zone.) She keeps turning the air conditioning on and off, while making the windows go up and down.
She`s always yelling, ”Look out!” ”Be careful!” ”Watch it!” ”Did you see that car?” She is driving me bananas!
Now I ask you, who needs counseling?
Hassled Husband
Dear Hassled: You both should sit down with a family counselor and learn how to fight fair. Be up-front with your backseat driver and let her know before you turn the key that she is not to warn, direct or ”help” you drive. And your wife needs to learn how to relax and control the urge to
”help” you.
A 40-year-old habit is not easy to break, but my readers tell me that it can be done, and their only regret is that they didn`t start sooner.
Dear Abby: When is an in-law out?
My daughter was married and had two children. She divorced the father of her children and married a second time. Meanwhile her first husband married again, too. My daughter had no children with her second husband, whom she divorced after four years to marry another man. She had no children with her third husband either, whom she later divorced.
Last year my daughter died. Am I still a mother-in-law to any of the men my daughter married?
Wondering
Dear Wondering: No. When your daughter ended her marriages, the legal relationship with your sons-in-law ended.
Dear Abby: My husband`s barber, a 40-year-old divorced woman, has invited my husband to her birthday party–for men only!
I am outraged. What do you think?
His Wife
Dear Wife: You are overreacting out of sheer insecurity. There`s safety in numbers, so curb your outrage lest you give them both ideas.
To get Abby`s booklet, ”How to Write Letters for All Occasions,” send a check or money order for $2.50 and a long, stamped (39 cents), addressed envelope to: Dear Abby, Letter Booklet, Box 447, Mt. Morris, Ill. 61054.
![Sandy Farrer’s first day on the job at Jewel-Osco started a bit, well, sticky. She bagged groceries alongside a cashier who liked to move quickly. But when two liter glass bottles of pop bumped together, exploding all over her, Farrer said she spent her first shift soaked in the drink. But Farrer overcame the bumpy start, recently celebrating her 50th anniversary with the grocery chain. Oh, and that cashier — he’s now her husband. “I said this to my husband, ‘God I’ve known you for 50 years.’ It was like, wow,” she said, adding that they started dating a few […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CTC-L-jewel-employee02_194930966.jpg?w=525 "Sandy Farrer’s first day on the job at Jewel-Osco started a bit, well, sticky. She bagged groceries alongside a cashier who liked to move quickly. But when two liter glass bottles of pop bumped together, exploding all over her, Farrer said she spent her first shift soaked in the drink. But Farrer overcame the bumpy start, recently celebrating her 50th anniversary with the grocery chain. Oh, and that cashier — he’s now her husband. “I said this to my husband, ‘God I’ve known you for 50 years.’ It was like, wow,” she said, adding that they started dating a few […]")
