Dear Devil’s Advocate,

I am really concerned about my girlfriend. She has always talked about her weight a lot and went to the gym, but I think she is becoming a little obsessed with it now. She started taking these diet pills, which obviously won’t help anything, and she’s barely eating anything anymore. In my opinion, she is getting way too skinny. If I mention anything about it to her, she just catches an attitude with me. What else can I do to stop this?

– Concerned boyfriend

Dear Concerned,

This is a pretty serious issue. It seems like your girlfriend is heading down the road to an eating disorder, although I obviously cannot be certain of that.

I would try to sit her down and talk to her again. Get some information about the pills she is taking and tell her that there is nothing healthy about them. Explain your concern for her as well. However, it is quite possible that she will still get an attitude with you and deny she has any sort of problem.

If this issue persists and she continues not to eat, you are going to have to talk to her parents about it. I know it seems like ratting her out and, yes, she might hate you for a while, but you are ultimately doing the best thing for her. Taking any sort of pills is never a good idea. Look what happened to Jesse Spano in that episode of Saved by the Bell. She was very excited about everything and then she was just “so-so-scared!”

(If you do not get that reference, it’s fine. It just means you are not a corny television show junkie like I am. I am seeking help for it.)

Dear Devil’s Advocate,

I will be graduating college in a few short months and starting work on my master’s in education. The high school I attended has even promised me a teaching job while I work on my master’s degree. I should be all set. However, I was just promoted to manager at the restaurant I work at now. I pretty much work there full-time and the pay is great.

In fact, I am making more there now than I will be when I get a full-time teaching position. I know that I went to school to become a teacher, but it is so tempting to just stay at the job I am at now, even if I do not necessarily want to stay in the restaurant business forever. I don’t know what to do.

-Confused graduate

Dear Confused,

Money is always alluring. As college graduates, we are always looking for the job that will give us the most money. This becomes tricky in your case because you already have the job that is going to give you the most cash.

My advice would be to just get out of that business as soon as you can. I am not saying that the restaurant industry is a bad one to get involved in, but it does not seem as though that is where you really want to work. You went to school and spent all that money on the education you need to become a teacher. You should not just chuck all that away because the money is better. You have to go for the job that you really want to do.

There is nothing wrong with keeping your restaurant job for a few more years. It will be a great opportunity to save up cash while you get your master’s degree. However, as soon as you are able to teach full-time, I think you should just walk away from the restaurant business. It is too easy to get sucked into it and to end up spending your entire life in a place you do not even truly like.

Money is a hard thing to turn down, but you have to think about all sides of this problem. Sure, you might be making more money at the restaurant than you would as a teacher, but you also probably have to work long hours, weekends and holidays. This will definitely get tiring after many years of doing it. Not that babysitting those little rug rats in the classroom won’t get tiring, but at least you get the summers off.