Jobless Couch Potato

Help...

I need advice on how to tell my Uncle and Mom that my Uncle's son cannot stay at my house if he does not get out and get a job.

It is not fair to me and my sons if we have to get up every morning and go to work and school and he just lounges around my house.

Dear Help,

If your only beef is with the couch potato (we may have a complete meal here if we keep going), why not start by talking to your cousin? It wasn't easy, but I figured out that "uncle's son" is the same as "your cousin".

Flat out tell your cousin (and don't mince words) that if he's going to stay with you he has to get a job, take out the trash, make his bed - you know, all the perfectly normal things that people do when they live in a household with others.

Once your cousin gets a job, it's time to discuss paying some rent, of course.

Don't think of yourself as the bad guy in this. The best thing in the world for your cousin to do would be to take care of himself and contribute to the family that helps him in his time of trouble.



If your cousin turns out to be a rotten potato and refuses to do what's right, you'll just have to tell your uncle and mom that in a case of give and take, you'll gladly give, but you won't be taken!

The longer you stew on this, the worse it will get... for everybody. It's best to nip it in the bud... or spud, for that matter.

Dr. Julia