Dear Devil’s Advocate,

I recently started a new job as a secretary in an office. Most of the people who work there are nice, but there is one girl who I have noticed works about three hours out of an eight-hour shift and I find myself having to pick up her slack. Everyone in the office seems to know about this girl, but no one bothers to complain about her. I don’t want to cause problems, but I also don’t want to keep doing twice the workload. What should I do?

—Frustrated Secretary

Dear Frustrated,

Isn’t it annoying how cigarette smokers are allowed, like, five million breaks a day to feed their addiction while us non-smokers are practically shackled to our desks, sweat-shop style, and barely allotted time for bathroom breaks?

Anyway, you have three options here. You can choose to not rock the office boat and ignore the situation, in which case you have to just deal with the extra workload. You can also attempt to confront the girl about her behavior, but it is likely that she will just ignore you and continue puffing away on her little sticks of death.

Or, you can notify a manager or supervisor about what is going on. The downside of that option includes the possibility of you becoming known as the “office rat.”

I understand that you might choose to just keep your mouth shut about the problem in the interest of staying on everyone’s good side.

Doing this, however, is not going to make you friends. It is just going to make everybody think you are a pushover, and no one is ever really friends with a pushover.

Dear Devil’s Advocate,

I’ve been going out with this girl I met at work for about six months now. She lives on her own but she recently invited me to go upstate with her to visit her parents. When we got there, her parents were pretty cold to me and I have no clue why. I consider myself a nice and polite guy and I was on my best behavior while I was up there. I asked my girlfriend about it after we left and she insisted that they liked me, but I know she was lying. I really like this girl and I’m afraid her parent’s bad opinion of me might affect hers. What should I do?

—Worried guy

Dear Worried,

Meeting the family of your significant other is one of the scariest things you have to deal with when you are in a serious relationship. If they like you, nights of fun playing Clue and “oooo..the game of Life” are just around the corner.

If they do not like you, then it is doubtful that anyone will be helping you find out who killed Colonel Mustard in the conservatory.

At this point, you really cannot be sure that your girlfriend’s parents truly dislike you. Perhaps you were just paranoid, or maybe they are the kind of people who need to get to know you a bit before they act a little friendlier.

The point is you have plenty of time to work on this. As you continue your relationship with her, there will be more occasions to meet her family and allow them the opportunity to get to know the wonderful and charming you.

Plus, your girlfriend will undoubtedly tell them many tales of what an amazing guy you are.

One word of advice, though. Should you ever get to the point where you are about to embark on your first cheesy board game night with her family, never play Monopoly.

That game makes even the sanest of people want to murder their own kin. It’s evil…trust me.