Jamie Lauren Sutton

Dear Ms. D,

I referred my lovely housekeeper to a dear friend.  The three of us are equally obsessive about spotless grout! My housekeeper, whom I have know for over six years, worked for him for about a month and then she suddenly quit.  She told me that she figured out that he is gay and cannot work for someone whose lifestyle so offends her. 

Dear Ms. Demeanor,

The good news: Our building is now wired for FiOS.  The bad news: The FiOS guy has to spend the day in my apartment installing it.  Do I tip him?

Some neighbors are forking out $20.00.

Fiberoptically yours,

Roadrunner Refugee

Dear Roadrunner Refugee,

Ah New York...  The song should go, "If you can make it here, you'll be tipping everywhere."

Dear Ms. Demeanor,

We are three woman moving in to a two-bedroom apartment. One of the bedrooms is pretty big and we are putting up a temporary wall to subdivide it.

The girl who is getting the intact bedroom says she should not have to pay to put up the wall since she is payng more rent for her bedroom. WTF? Help us please!

Signed, Miserable Millenial 

Dear Miserable Millenial,

This all comes down to math.

Dear Ms. Demeanor,

To save money, our co-op gave over the planting of our sidewalk garden to an interested resident. Said resident assured us she could do the same job for much less; she would only charge for the materials.

Sadly she has replaced the lush but elegant flowers and plants with anemic-looking impatiens and various tacky small garden sculptures.  A garden gnome in Manhattan is meant to be ironic interior decor, not part of an actual garden.

Dear Ms. Demeanor,

We live in a wonderful co-op on York Avenue and we have outgrown our apartment.  We bought it with the help of a broker who both lives in the building and has an exclusive on every unit for sale. 

Presently she is listing two other units in our line.  Our thought is that her impetus to sell our unit is compromised by this excess supply and her monopoly.  We are planning to use another broker.  Thoughts?  Comments?  Questions?

Signed,

Dear Ms. Demeanor,

Our building does not allow most delivery people up to our apartments - we have to meet the all of our food, groceries, drycleaning, etc., in the lobby.  How do we tip them in this circumstance?

Many thanks,

Door-to-not-quite-door serviced

Dear Not Quite,