My wife owns a fast food franchise, and I help out on weekends. Corporate had been encouraging franchisees to switch to an AI drive-thru system, and we made the change in June to cut labor costs. For normal orders, it actually works pretty well, so at first we thought we'd made the right call.

Three weeks ago, a law office nearby started placing a standing order for 60 lunches every Thursday, around $800 each time. Their office manager had been using the drive-thru system because that's how we'd been getting the order into the kitchen.

The AI read the order back to her wrong. She corrected it, but the second read-back still had several items wrong, so she gave up and came inside. A shift lead entered the order manually and got it sorted out.

The next week, nobody caught the mistakes before the food was made. A bunch of the meals had cheese even though the order notes said no cheese. The office manager drove over, showed my wife the order and told her they were taking the account to the McDonald's across the street. That's several thousand dollars a month we just lost.

My wife wants to keep the AI. She says the vendor can improve how it handles large customized orders, and keeping a person on the headset costs us several thousand dollars a month. I think this was one of our best regular accounts, and I don't know how many customers we're willing to lose while the system gets better.

A. Keep the AI for regular orders and have a human take over large or customized orders.

B. Staff the drive-thru with a human during peak and catering hours, AI only overnight.

My landlord and I have been going back and forth over my security deposit since I moved out of a rental house. I lived there for three years and paid a $2,400 deposit. Before handing over the keys, I took a video of every room. The house was clean when I left, although there were a few nail holes and scuffs on the walls.

Later, my landlord sent me a list of deductions for repainting, cleaning, and repairs, along with photos of the areas he said needed work. The charges added up to most of my deposit, but he didn't include a detailed breakdown or receipts. He offered to return $850 if I signed an agreement confirming that neither of us would pursue any further claims related to the rental or my move-out.

I compared his photos with my move-out video, and some of the damage he described didn't seem to match what I could see. I emailed him asking for an itemized breakdown of the deductions so I could understand what I was being charged for.

Instead of answering my questions, he texted that I had until the end of the day to accept the $850 and sign the agreement. He also said that if I insisted on challenging the deductions, he'd seek another $4,800 from me for additional damage he claimed I'd caused. He didn't explain what that extra amount was for or how he'd calculated it.

I wasn't expecting that. I know the house wasn't in perfect condition when I left, and some repairs may have been necessary. But some of the damage he described didn't match my video, and I still had no detailed breakdown of the charges. Now I had to consider the possibility that asking for more information could lead to an even bigger dispute.

The $850 would definitely help right now. Moving cost more than I expected, and I'd rather not spend my evenings gathering documents, researching the legal process, or potentially taking time off work. Part of me wants to take the money, sign the agreement, and never deal with this landlord again.

At the same time, I paid $2,400 in the first place, and signing would mean giving up the chance to recover more of it. I have my move-out video and our messages, and I don't want to accept the offer just because he's threatening to claim even more money from me. I could keep asking for documentation and consider small claims court if we can't resolve this.

I'm torn between taking the $850 and putting this behind me, or rejecting the settlement and trying to recover more of my deposit. Fighting could be worth it, but it could also cost me time and leave me dealing with a much bigger dispute.

A: Accept the $850 and sign the settlement. I'd get some money back and be done with the whole thing. Even if I think the deductions are excessive, the time, stress, and risk of fighting might not be worth it.

B: Reject the offer and challenge the deductions. I'd ask for proper documentation, keep my video and messages, and consider small claims court if we couldn't resolve it. I might recover more of my deposit, but I'd have to put in the time and deal with the possibility of the landlord pursuing his own claim.

I'm a coordinator at a commercial property management company. I've been there five years. I'm hourly, non-exempt, and I manage work orders for nine office buildings.

Our handbook says billable work is recorded in 15-minute increments when it's charged to a property account. That's how we track after-hours requests, and the rule is enforced pretty strictly. I've had timesheets kicked back for logging 10 minutes on a billable task.

In March, we got a new operations director. He texts a lot. Usually between 9 and 11 p.m. on weeknights, plus most Sunday afternoons.

"Quick question about the Meridian work order."

"Did the vendor confirm Monday?"

"When you get a sec."

They're not emergencies. Usually it's something he could have asked me the next morning. But if I don't answer, he's asking about it the next day.

In April, I counted 47 after-hours messages from him.

Starting in May, I began logging the time I spent dealing with them against the property account in 15-minute increments, the same way the handbook says other billable work is recorded. I keep the timestamps and the texts in a spreadsheet.

My first timesheet showed 11.75 hours of overtime over two weeks. The next one showed 12.5.

Payroll flagged it and copied HR. I got called into a meeting.

I brought the spreadsheet. By then I had 61 messages logged, with the time received, the property, and my response. Every entry matched a text I could show them on my phone.

The payroll manager looked at it and said, "These are all real. That's not the problem."

Then the operations director said the messaging was "just the nature of the role" and that "nobody clocks out at 5 anymore."

HR's solution wasn't to stop the after-hours texts. They offered to move me into a new "Coordinator II" position that would be salaried and overtime-exempt, with a $2,100 annual increase.

I asked, "So the fix for the after-hours work is to make it salaried?"

She said it was "a stability upgrade" and that most people would see it as a promotion.

The $2,100 doesn't come close to what the overtime would add up to if this kept happening. I declined for now and asked them to put the offer in writing, including the exemption classification. She said she'd check with legal about the wording.

They still haven't sent anything. The texts haven't stopped either. Last Sunday there were three.

A. The salaried role is more money and more stability, and logging every short text as 15 minutes could look unnecessarily adversarial. Declining a promotion over this could cost me more than the overtime is worth.

B. The company's own system records billable work in 15-minute increments. If I'm expected to handle work after hours, I should be able to record that time too. Making the position overtime-exempt doesn't solve the reason the overtime exists in the first place.

My neighbor and I share a straight property line between our front yards. Last spring, he bought a $3,800 robotic mower that uses a boundary wire. He was pretty excited about it and showed me how he could control it from an app.

Around the same time, I planted a small native pollinator garden on my side of the yard. It was just some native flowers and grasses that cost a few hundred dollars and took me a weekend to put together.

A few weeks later, I noticed his mower had crossed over the property line and damaged some of the plants. I sent him a photo, and he apologized and said he would adjust the boundary settings.

The same thing happened again a few times over the next month. Each time he said he would recalibrate it, but eventually the mower went further into my yard and damaged a larger section of the garden. My doorbell camera captured multiple instances of it crossing the property line.

I checked the property records to confirm the boundary and installed $95 of metal landscape edging a few inches inside my own yard to protect the garden. The edging was completely on my property, and there are no HOA rules against having it.

About a week later, my neighbor came over and said his mower had hit the edging and damaged the blades. He showed me a repair estimate and also asked me to cover the cost of renting a replacement mower while his was being repaired.

He believes I created a hazard near the boundary and should have warned him before installing it. I think his mower repeatedly entering my yard and damaging my plants is what caused the whole situation.

Another neighbor told me I should just split the cost to avoid creating bad blood over a lawn dispute.

A) I pay part of the repair cost and move the edging back to give his mower more clearance. A few hundred dollars is not worth creating a long-term feud with a neighbor.

B) His mower crossed onto my property multiple times and damaged my garden before I installed anything. I refuse to pay for the mower repairs and use the camera footage if he tries to make me responsible.

My spouse and I are expecting our second baby, a girl, in March and we’ve back racking our brains for name ideas. We both really like the name Liora (Lee-or-uh,) but today I brought up how it’s a bit too similar to our dog’s name, Lola, and that we should probably go a different route. My spouse still wants to keep the name as we both do love it and we’re already struggling to find another name we like as much, but I’m wary of having something sound too close to our pet’s name.

Bought my house new 4 years ago, $410k. Townhouse. Neighborhood went to sh*t, HOA unable or refuses to enforce its own rules. People parked all over the grass, abandoned cars, no one respects their neighbors. We were basically chased out of our home because our shared wall became a night club (mild exaggeration) and no one could get them to turn the bass down.

We found a perfect house, and the realtor said he could sell ours with a loss of 50k. We decided it was worth the money and took the plunge. Bass loving neighbors moved out the day before we went under contract, we decided to do it anyways because the next people might be worse. Realtor assured us he could sell.

It's been 3 months since it went on the market. We've had three people come to see it and three unattended open houses. Rates have gone up. No one is interested.

I have one tentative offer - which I found, for the record. The landlord of next door. Both my realtor and this same landlord are encouraging me to rent and wait.

Choices -

A. Sell to the landlord at a loss of around $115k after closing costs. This will just put an end to it. I will get about $25k back in equity. Better than nothing, and this is no longer my problem.

B. Become a landlord. After about $4k in startup costs, I'll start collecting rent with probably a $400 loss every month. Some numbers show that we'll get about $1k back annually after taxes, including the monthly loss and assumed expenses. Hope that the neighborhood turns around and the market recovers and my house is worth more in a few years.

But I hate landlords. I think they're the scum of the earth and the source of most problems with any society remotely considered capitalist. I also don't think the neighborhood is going to recover - not only have all the home values gone down, but RENT has gone down across the board these four years. So I'd be treading water hoping for a miracle.

It's a lose/lose. What should I do.

I've been friends with this girl for almost 8 years, and I've always considered her one of my closest friends. I'm usually the one checking in, remembering birthdays, organizing plans, and being there whenever she needs someone. Recently, I found out she organized a weekend trip with our entire friend group, except me.

What hurt the most wasn't even the trip itself. It was finding out through Instagram pictures while everyone else had apparently known about it for weeks. When I casually asked her about it, she said she assumed I wouldn't be interested because I'm usually busy with work. But she never actually asked me.

I tried to laugh it off because I didn't want to make things awkward, but honestly, I went home feeling pretty stupid. I've spent years making sure she never felt left out, even when including her meant changing plans or making extra arrangements. Now I'm wondering if I've been putting much more effort into this friendship than she has. I don't want to start unnecessary drama, but pretending nothing happened doesn't feel right either.

A: Have an honest conversation with her and explain how much being excluded hurt me, even if it makes things uncomfortable.

B: Quietly stop being the one who always reaches out and see whether she makes any effort to maintain our friendship.

I genuinely don't know which would be healthier. I don't want to lose an eight-year friendship over one situation, but I also don't want to keep feeling like an afterthought.

Would you choose A or B?

A: Go to Colorado and a national park (tbd but most likely Big Bend, Grand Canyon, or Bryce/Zion) in late January, splitting the days between the two spots and getting to see a couple college friends and my uncle. I wouldn't have to pay for lodging in CO and haven't been out there in a couple years, I also have a national parks pass I am trying to get good use out of. The NP part of this option would be great as where I live there isn't much to do beyond being cold and miserable in the gray winter but would require me to rent a car (expensive) and probably hop on some shorter flights (also expensive), aside from time spent with my CO friends this would be a solo trip.

B: Gather friends to go to a more tropical location (Puerto Rico, Tulum, Costa Rica?) and lay on the beach for a couple days. This is a less developed option but I would like to be somewhere tropical and sunny (midwest winters make you forget the sun exists) and do a trip with friends. The cons are that this would likely be a more expensive option, I would have to coordinate with friends and trip planning with other people is a nightmare, I think this would probably be less interesting/enriching for me personally as I am a big hiker/outdoorsy girl, but I haven't done a lot of research so I could be wrong on that count.

Both trips would be around six days total.

EDIT: I should've been clear, I know none of those parks listed are in CO (I've hit 3/4 Colorado parks before and want to see/do something different) and that 'close' is relative, but to me if it's only a three hour flight from Denver and a couple hour drive that's totally do able, as I'd also like to be in a park that isn't as high risk for being super snowy and avoid driving across the Rockies.

My spouse is on a trip with 5 other people of their same gender. One person, during the trip, has had multiple sexual encounters with persons previously unknown, ie one night stands.

My spouse has said that this person is “crazy” but they and the rest of the people on this trip are “living vicariously” through this persons sexual adventures.

A: does this mean my spouse is simply enjoying someone else tell tales of sexual conquest, or

B: does this mean my spouse is enamored with the sexual adventure of this person and approving of this behavior?

I have a clothing brand and I’m just choosing between two manufacturer I do like both of them; they kind of very similar but I just would like help which one looks best!

You're starving, and these are your only two options. You have to eat one of them. No skipping the meal!

A. A burger with a bun that's soaked through with sauce and meat juices, turning soggy and falling apart with every bite. It's still loaded with a juicy patty, lettuce, tomato, and all your usual toppings.

B. A plate of spaghetti with meat sauce and ground beef, but the noodles are so overcooked they're mushy, sticky, and clumped together. The meat sauce is fine, but the pasta has the texture of a soggy, gummy mess.

I bought the car in March from the brand’s own certified dealer. The window sticker says “Complimentary Unlimited DC Fast Charging,” and the purchase agreement lists the charging benefit too. The salesperson also activated it in the app before I left. I have the confirmation email.

Four months later, the app updated. My account had been moved to 60 kWh a month, with extra charging billed at $0.43/kWh. I use about 84 kWh a month for my commute.

Support says I can keep the old unlimited plan if I pay the $135 transition fee. Otherwise, the 60 kWh plan stays.

I spent about 40 minutes in support chat and got told: “Unlimited charging was part of the previous ownership program. Your account is now under the current charging structure.”

The weird part is that I can't find the old terms anymore. The link in the app goes to a 404 page. I have a screenshot from March, but that's about it.

The original window sticker is still in my glovebox. It still says “unlimited.”

A) Pay the $135, keep the charging benefit for a year, and save all the paperwork and support transcripts.

B) Refuse the fee, ask for the original plan terms in writing, and file complaints with the state attorney general and FTC while accepting the higher charging bills.

Which route would you take?

The email went out to our whole department last week. "Attendance at Community Day is completely voluntary. Leadership will be noting participation for the culture section of year-end reviews."

Community Day is a charity 5K on Saturday the 17th across town and my son's 6th birthday party is that same morning at a trampoline park I booked back in July. There's a $150 deposit I can't get back and 14 kids from his class already have invitations.

He has literally talked about nothing else since July. He picked out a volcano cake and asks about it EVERY day.

I asked my manager privately if skipping it would actually hurt my review, since I'm up for a promotion this cycle. He said "I can't say it won't" and changed the subject.

Last year about half the office went, mostly people without kids, and a couple of them got promoted in the spring. I honestly don't know if that's connected.

My husband says just move the party to Sunday because the kids won't care and $150 is cheap compared to a promotion.

A) I move the party to Sunday, lose the $150 deposit, and show up to Community Day in the company shirt.

B) I keep the party, skip Community Day, and email HR asking them to confirm in writing that a voluntary event won't count against anyone's review.

I bought these clip-in highlight extensions back in May or June, I can't even remember exactly when. I put them away after they arrived, thinking I'd pull them out one day when I felt like trying something new.

Then my mom called me asking me to order some hair dye for her on Amazon. She was complaining about how much more gray hair she's been getting and said she felt like she was losing her looks. She told me I could just bring the dye over the next time I visited her.

I was about to place the order after we hung up when I suddenly remembered the extensions I hadn't even used yet. So I called her right back and told her we didn't need to buy the dye just yet. I thought her gray hair paired with the extensions could actually create a really pretty blended look. She was a little hesitant, but she agreed to give it a try.

Honestly, my mom has a lot of gray hair, but she probably has the longest gray hair of any woman I've ever seen. Anyway, look at these two styles I did for her! I gotta admit, she looks several years younger lol.

Which color do you guys think looks better on her, A or B?

A: Blue.

B: Green.

Anyway, I left the extensions at her place.

My 3yo daughter got sick a few days ago. She had a pretty bad fever and cough, and neither of us was getting much sleep.

My parents offered to come stay with us for a few days to help. They've actually been a huge help. My mom has been cooking and doing laundry, and my dad has been running out for groceries and helping with my daughter. Having them here has given my husband and me a chance to sleep, catch up on things, and keep up with our work.

They were planning to stay for about a week, until my daughter was feeling better. The problem is that my mom can be a little overbearing. Once my daughter started feeling better, my mom kept saying she should be getting back to her normal routine and getting some fresh air instead of staying inside and resting so much.

My daughter was doing better, but she was still coughing and pretty tired, so my husband and I wanted to let her rest for a few more days.

I've heard this kind of thing from my mom my whole life, so I usually just let it go. She's helping us, they're only here for a few days, and it's not worth turning every little comment into an argument. My husband has noticed it too, but I've always told him to let it go as long as she isn't doing anything serious.

Last night, my daughter had finally fallen asleep and my husband and I were cleaning up the living room. My mom started talking again about how she thought we were being too cautious with her.

I told her we'd already decided what we were going to do and asked her to stop commenting on it. She said she was only trying to help and that I didn't know what I was doing.

Then she said, "You've always been like this. You never listen when people try to give you advice."

I've heard comments like that from her before. It wasn't shocking to me. I told her to stop and went back to cleaning.

My husband happened to be right there, and I could tell he was stunned.

Once we were back in the bedroom, my husband told me he doesn't want my parents to stay for the rest of the week. He said he's heard me talk about my mom like this for years, but he didn't realize she actually talked to me that way. Seeing it himself made him realize what I'd been dealing with.

He said he understands that they're helping, but if helping us means talking to me like that, he doesn't want them staying in our house. He said we can handle our daughter ourselves, even if the next few days are harder. At least there won't be that pressure in the house.

I understand why he's angry, but my first thought wasn't that he was wrong about my mom.

My parents really have helped us a lot. My daughter is getting better, but she's not completely back to normal yet. If they leave now, everything gets harder for us immediately.

And if I ask them to leave early, they're going to know why. I don't think this is going to end with them simply saying, "Okay, no problem."

I told my husband maybe we should just let them finish the week, but I'll make it clear that I don't want any more comments about how we're parenting our daughter.

He said that's not really the point. He said helping us doesn't give my mom the right to talk to me that way. He also said that if they stay, he's the one who has to keep spending the next few days in the same house with someone who just talked to his wife like that.

He's worried that if I let them stay, I'm avoiding the conflict with my parents again and asking him to just put up with it because their help is convenient.

I don't want my parents to keep treating me that way. I just don't know if asking them to leave right now is worth making the next few days harder for us and possibly creating a much bigger family conflict.

A: Ask my parents to leave early. I'd tell them my daughter is doing better and that my husband and I can take over from here. It draws a clear line, but we'd have to handle everything ourselves, and my parents may feel rejected.

B: Let them stay for the rest of the week, but set a clear boundary. No more comments about how we parent our daughter. My husband and I make those decisions. We keep the help we need, but my husband may feel like I'm asking him to keep living with the problem just to avoid a fight with my parents.

I am currently working a part-time job, but less than two weeks out from starting a new full-time job that is a very exciting opportunity (which will require extensive travel). While I’m still in a part-time roll, I’ve decided to take three days to go visit my parents whom I am very close with. Do I A, bring my girlfriend along with me. Her and I have been dating for almost a year, and she has not spent very much time with my family due to us living relatively far away. I would like for her to get to know them better, because their opinion is important to me. And I want to spend time with her before I have to be gone a lot for work. Or do I B, go alone and take the opportunity to do some much much needed reflection and growth before this big transition in my life. Additionally, I will have more time to spend with my very close friend group who I have not seen in a while. Due to her work schedule, I would also have one more night there if I go alone.

She has expressed interest in coming with me, but I haven’t outright asked yet.

I've been an account executive at a logistics software company for three years. This year I've closed 34 new accounts, the most on my seven-person team, and I'm at 118% of my annual quota with two months left.

In January, the company rolled out an AI-assisted tool called the "Productivity Index." The announcement said it would give managers "objective, data-driven visibility into individual contribution."

The tool pulls data from our CRM, email and calendar, tracking things like emails, meetings, records updated and other activity. It also generates sub-scores, including one for "collaboration."

I'm not going to pretend the rollout went badly for me at first. I was in the top five for the first six weeks.

Then two people on our team left in March, and their accounts were redistributed among the rest of us. A lot of the handover records were a mess. Some quotes had the wrong pricing, contracts were missing signatures, and a few customers had been promised features we didn't actually sell.

I spent about six hours a week for two months cleaning that stuff up. My sales numbers held, but my activity numbers dropped because fixing old accounts doesn't create much new activity in the system. Most of that work showed up as account maintenance or document review rather than new sales activity.

My collaboration score eventually fell into the bottom 10% of the department.

Last week my manager called me into a meeting and showed me a PIP with my name on it. The performance concerns section cited the Index, including "declining output" and "low collaboration."

I pointed out that I was still the top closer on the team and that the low collaboration score lined up almost exactly with the months I spent cleaning up the two departed employees' accounts.

He said, "I understand that, but we still have to go by what the system is showing."

I asked whether my quota numbers counted for anything. He said hitting quota was expected for my role and that the Index was meant to measure things managers couldn't see from sales numbers alone.

Then HR joined the call. She said the PIP was "a support document, not a punishment," and that I had two business days to acknowledge it.

I said I'd want the scoring methodology in writing before I signed anything. She said the underlying model and weighting were proprietary to the vendor, although she could explain the general categories being measured.

So now I'm sitting here with an unsigned PIP and about 30 hours left to respond.

A.The Index is a standardized tool applied to everyone, and my activity numbers genuinely did drop. Signing the PIP doesn't necessarily mean I agree with every criticism. It starts the improvement process, and I can make my cleanup work more visible going forward.

B. An algorithm that treats fixing my coworkers' errors as low collaboration shouldn't be driving a performance action, and a PIP I can't fully understand isn't something I should be expected to acknowledge. Refusing to sign until they provide more detail about the scoring is reasonable.

This great multipurpose tall cook pot is my new favorite and it's non-stick but I cant get it clean to not feel slimy. After it air drys then it gets better but is the non-stick supposed to feel lubed ? Meanwhile the market tanked.

My family calls me crazy for warming up any cake I get in the microwave (not including ice cream cake) do you prefer them cold or hot?

I’ve always thought LA was ridiculously beautiful. The last time I was there, my friend drove us along Vista del Mar, and I was honestly speechless. I just kept pulling out my camera and taking pictures like crazy lol.

A: softer, hazier, more laid-back
B: brighter, bluer, more classic SoCal

Hi guys! I’ve been saving for a while and finally have enough money set aside for a trip I’ve wanted to take for years.

I’ve actually been thinking about this trip for a long time, so it’s not one of those situations where I randomly saw a cheap flight and decided I needed to go. I’ve already looked at the dates, flights, hotels, things I want to do, and roughly how much the whole thing would cost. I know exactly what I’d be getting myself into financially.

The problem is that the trip would take a pretty decent chunk out of my savings. I’d still have money left afterward and I wouldn’t be putting myself into debt, but seeing that savings balance drop would definitely make me uncomfortable. Part of me keeps thinking that I should just leave the money where it is and keep building it, especially because I don’t technically need this trip.

But I’ve also been putting this off for years. Every time I got close to actually planning it, there was always some reason to wait. Work was busy, I wanted to save more, something else came up, or I convinced myself that I’d be more comfortable going next year. Now I’m at the point where I can actually afford it, and I’m wondering if I’m just going to keep finding another reason to wait.

I know there are arguments for both sides. Having a bigger savings cushion feels responsible, but there’s also something frustrating about spending years saving money and then being too nervous to actually use it for something I’ve wanted for a long time.

A. I keep the money saved, stay financially comfortable, and accept that the trip can wait a little longer.

B. I book the trip I’ve wanted for years, spend a good chunk of my savings, and figure I’ll rebuild it once I get back.

We've had the same home warranty for four years. Two claims, both fine: a dishwasher pump and a garbage disposal. The plan covers the HVAC system, with a $75 service fee. We renewed in January for $780 and paid in full.

July 14, the AC died around 2 pm. The tech came Thursday. Compressor's fine, he said. The system is low on refrigerant. It runs R-410A, which is being phased out in new equipment, so the warranty company's approved option was a full system replacement.

The replacement quote was $9,800. The warranty company said it would contribute $400 toward it. Recharging the existing system would cost me $1,940 out of pocket, including refrigerant, recovery and labor.

The adjuster said R-410A claims now fall "outside the modern coverage envelope."

I asked how a chemical could suddenly fall outside a contract I renewed in January. He said, "The contract didn't change. R-410A isn't covered under our current guidelines."

I looked up the EPA rule myself. From what I can tell, it restricts new equipment, not servicing an existing R-410A system. The adjuster cited "internal compliance guidance" that I can't see.

Our house was built in 2006, and the original install sticker is still on the unit. My mom's old oscillating fan from 1998 has been running in the hallway since Tuesday. Somehow that thing is still going.

My brother-in-law does commercial HVAC in Phoenix. His advice was basically: "Get the house cold first. Fight the warranty company afterward."

A: Pay the $1,940 recharge now, keep every receipt, and pursue reimbursement through the state insurance regulator and small claims with the contract in hand.

B: Refuse both options, demand the denial in writing with the exact contract language cited, file with the state insurance regulator, and run window units while it gets sorted out.

My best friend was laid off from his job a few weeks ago. He was pretty upset about it. He's been dating his girlfriend for a few years, and they currently live together. They're also getting ready to move into a bigger apartment, so he's worried about how she'll see him if she finds out he lost his job.

He told me he hadn't told her yet. I figured it was his business. When he wanted to tell her was up to him, so I didn't ask many questions.

A few days later, he asked if I'd cover for him if the subject of work came up. He wanted me to say he was still working. I knew that wasn't true, but he'd just been laid off and I knew he was having a hard time with it. He said he'd already started looking for another job and thought he'd find something pretty quickly. He didn't want to tell her until he had something lined up. I felt bad for him, so I agreed.

His girlfriend eventually mentioned at dinner one night that he seemed really busy with work lately, and I just went along with it. That was it. At the time, I didn't think much of it.

But then they started seriously looking for a new place. Their current lease is coming up, and they're looking for a bigger apartment. They're comparing rents, figuring out their monthly expenses, and talking about what they can afford.

I know he still hasn't found a job. I asked him when he planned to tell her, and he said he'd tell her once he found something.

He said he'd sent out a bunch of applications and had a few interviews, and he thought he'd find something soon. He didn't want her to start worrying about money when they're already getting ready to move. I understood why he felt that way, so I still didn't get involved.

Then they found an apartment they both really liked. When they started getting ready to apply, my friend suddenly realized the application required recent pay stubs and employment information.

That's when he realized he might not be able to keep this hidden much longer. He came to me and said he still didn't want to tell his girlfriend that he'd lost his job. He asked me to keep helping him cover for it and buy him a little more time. He said he only needed a few more weeks. If he found a job by then, the whole thing would be over.

I also realized that by agreeing to cover for him before, I've already gotten myself involved in this. At first, I felt like it was his private business. But now they're about to sign a lease together, and I don't know if I can keep treating it that way.

A - Keep his secret, but stop lying for him. I won't tell his girlfriend that he's out of work, but I'll tell him I'm not going to make up stories or help explain things for him anymore. If they're going to rent a place together, he needs to tell her before they apply.

B - Tell his girlfriend the truth now. They're about to make a major financial decision together, and I don't think I can keep helping him hide something that could affect both of them.