Dear Queenie,

  It seems like these days people would rather talk to each other over the phone or social media than get together in person. Even my boyfriend spends all his time at home on the computer or his phone and I have a hard time getting him to talk to me.

  Queenie, how can I make him understand why I am—Fed up with social media

Dear Fed up,

  Tell your boyfriend you feel neglected when he does not pay any attention to you. Perhaps you can schedule a specific time when he turns off, or at least ignores, all his devices and devotes his attention to you – talking with you; playing games with you; whatever, but with you.

  If he cannot, or will not, do that for you, perhaps it is time for you to find a different boyfriend.

Dear Queenie,

  I am a slender woman but I have rather large breasts. Some other women seem to think that means they must be fake and that I must be rather “free” with men. There are even some of them who have gone so far as to try to feel my breasts to see if they are real.

  One time at a party I walked away from someone who was doing that and she started shouting at me.

  Queenie, how can I handle such situations?—Overendowed

Dear Overendowed,

  If anyone tries to touch any part of you without even asking for your permission, ask them politely (but not especially quietly) not to touch you. And if they ask questions about your breasts, just tell them that, yes, your breasts are real, and ask them why they (are so rude as to) ask such a question.

Dear Queenie,

  When I have guests for a meal I serve the food buffet-style. There is one person who always gets in line first for the buffet and takes the best parts of everything and leaves the rest for the others.

  I have asked this person not to do this, but they still do it.

  Queenie, what do you suggest?—Fed-up hostess

Dear Hostess,

  Stop serving your guests buffet-style. Seat them all at a large table and pass the serving dishes around, making sure that this person is far from the first to be served. Or, make up a plate for each guest in the kitchen.

Dear Queenie,

  My mother has never liked my wife and has always been mean to her, even telling other people bad lies about her. I have tried to get her to be polite to my wife at least, but she doesn’t listen to anything I say, she just says I don’t see the real person my wife is. Now our grownup son is getting married and my mother has told his fiancée all sorts of lies about my wife and the poor girl is already scared of her soon-to-be mother-in-law.

  What’s worse is that my father is very sick and my mother doesn’t tell us how he is doing or answer our phone calls to ask about him. We only found out about it from someone else in the family long after it happened.

  Queenie, my mother seems lost to us, but how can we keep in touch with my father?—Worried son

Dear Son,

  Arrange with some other member(s) of your family, especially your father’s relatives, to keep you up to date on his condition, and to help you visit him if possible. They can also tell your son’s fiancée the truth about your wife.

  As for your mother, there is not much, if anything, you can do about her behaviour. To be honest, she seems to be at least a little bit mentally unstable.