Dear Blake,
My boss, who recently separated from her husband and is getting divorced, has moved within walking distance of work. The problem is, she can’t drive, and her daughter needs to be taken to and from school. I offered to help her out with her daughter, but now she’s asking me to take her everywhere she needs to go.
I have been accommodating and have done this for a couple of months, but she has never offered me any money toward gas in my car even though she’s always bragging about all the things she has ordered off the internet. I never offered to be her chauffeur.
I work third shift, which is hard enough, and have my own child to take care of during the day. How can I tell her it’s got to stop without hurting her feelings? I am getting close to losing control and telling her off. Everyone I know is advising me to stop, and she’s just using me.
Signed, Tasha
From Seattle, Washington
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Dear Tasha,
Your boss is clearly using you. Rather than telling her off, you must figure out a way for her to drop you as a chauffeur, if not having her insist that she doesn’t want you within a ten miles of her daughter. Here are some ideas. Allege you’re glad you finally got your license back after being ticketed 12 times for reckless driving, and you still feel that posted speed limits are a waste of the city’s money because you always ignore them. Or, tell her you are a functional alcoholic, and chugging whiskey calms your nerves because the roads have so many maniacs. Or this idea. Tell her that you now work for Uber, and she has to pay you to transport her daughter all over town, to ensure that you won’t get fired from your part time job for stealing. And finally, this last suggestion. Inform your boss that her daughter regularly tells you some very personal things about her family, and that if you ever come up missing, you’ll know where her husband will hide her body… or body parts. I hope this helps.
Blake