I'm not sure that she's willing to listen to me much anymore. We had a fight a couple of days ago. She was laid off from her first "real" job about three months ago, and managed to find a new job within a few weeks, which is good. Now she's started saying to me that she's had a new job offer, and she asked me what I thought. I told her that being straight out of college, and holding a job for one year, then the next for only two months, and then jumping to another job is NOT going to look good on her resume, because future employers would think she was flaky. She said I was being way too stringent, and that she would surely hold this next job for several years, and that would prove she wasn't flaky. I was like, "How do you know that you'll hold this next job for several years? The company could go under. You could get laid off again. I think you need to stay where you are for at least a couple of years, and have a good solid employment record before you shift to another job." She has no good reason to switch to this other job; it's like someone shows her something shiny and her attention changes to that direction. Those of you suggesting ADD might be onto something. She felt that I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about when it comes to what future employers might look for when it comes to her employment history, and that they wouldn't care if she had jumped around from job to job. Never mind that I have several years more work experience than her, and have been on hiring committees at major universities; I guess I know nothing. The argument then basically shifted into her saying that she knew that I thought she was a f*** up, and that I disapproved of her life choices, etc. Not totally untrue, I'm afraid. At this point, I'm not sure where the friendship is. I have a hard time being friends with someone that I can't even really respect, I guess. I've come to realize that I'm sick of being her keeper, and that's really about all our relationship ever was...

Skunks and highways don't mix well ... and when they've tried, usually there's a reminder for later travellers for a time. Coons don't, either. Or dogs, for that matter ... and this f c doesn't mind running angleways over the road, ahead of the car: she hasn't been trained how to manage, around cars. (Skunks, either, for that matter). I took the course that stockbokers take, thirty years ago ... but there was some downturn in the markets and brokers weren't hiring. I got on with a mutual fund broker a couple of years later ... compensation totally by commission ... but after a year I hadn't sold enough to suit the second tier guy above me ... so was "decommissioned". Some years ago a parishuioner in the post office one day thought it a bit odd that his clergy person subscribed to "The Financial Post" ... ... and I allowed as how it was my impression that bread cost me the same price that it cost him. So I worked for years as a personal financial consultant selling no financial products - folks didn't need to watch me closely, to see whether I was talking out of the side of my mouth that dealt with what was good for them ... ... or the side of my mouth dealing substantially with what was good for me. When I worked for the mutual fund broker, there was a guy there who'd been a fee-only planner for some time prior to that, and he said that was a good way to starve ... and I somewhat agree. People claim that they'd like unbiased advice ... but wonder why they should pay me ... for advice that they can get elsewhere ... for free. "Free", huh? Most financial planners are actually sales-peiople ... for insurance or mutual funds ... or, in recent years, stockbrokers, as well. I'm in London, need to get my diuretic prescription refilled, and meet the mutual fund guy in a half hour, so ... ... see you all later. ole joyfuelled

Oh my goodness does this bring back memories from my daughter's school days. Glad you received an apology and better yet, your DD and granddaughter know who to avoid in the future. My DD went to private schools and unfortunately we had a few of entitled parents who were amusing at best, annoying to down right psycho at worst. I agree with your DD that it is best in the long run to take the path of least resistance when dealing with such a person. Years later you get to see the fruits of their labor and usually it isn't pretty and sometimes down right sad.

Just came back to check this message again ... and found that it started on June 25 (and carried through till July 8). I hadn't noticed before, but June 25 is an important date in my past. Some time ago while visiting a business plaza in the city, I saw the words of that date written on a game store window, so went in there to check. They were not of Korean background, but carried the game, which has a Korean origin. The words are "Yook Ee Oh": "yook" is "six", "Ee" is "two" and "oh" is "five", so when put together, they are "6 - 25" which to Koreans are as familiar as "9-11" is to U.S. folks. It is the date on which the Korean War began, June 25, 1950. And it ended with a truce, in July, 1953 ... and there hasn't been a "peace" in place, yet! When I was in university, in 1950, the year in which the Korea War began, some left-leaning people said that it was the Republic of Korea (South Korea, or "ROK") that started it, not the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Whatever "democratic" means, in that context. If there's anything that people who had deeply dedicated to a certain ideology, philosophy or theology can't stand, it's to have some people make a joke of their major viewpoint. When they claimed that South Korea started the war ... we laughingly said to them that, yes, South Korea started the war ... and in two days, their capital city was overrun by the army of the country that they'd invaded ... ... and they lost their military headquarters. Anybody who'd believe that ... would probably believe that the moon was made of green/cream cheese, if the people making the claim were earnest enough! The war was still going when I was appointed by my church (The United Church of Canada, union of Methodist, Congregationalist and about 70% of the Presbyterians, in 1925) to go there to carry on missionary work, and the truce was declared while I was on a ship on the Pacific en route there. Eighteen days out of sight of land on the Pacific, en route from Los Angeles to Manila gives one who hadn't seen an ocean until then an idea of how large this world is. The main task was to help something over 100,000 refugees get their lives started over. So I was quite interested in the date of this thread when I noticed it. ole joyfuelled