Karma Cleanser - June 26 2002

Dear Karma Cleanser:
Over the past seven months, I have become serious with a girl who I met through a friend. We were friends at first, but soon became serious and have spent nearly every day together since Christmas. When we were friends, her “wild” ways didn’t bother or affect me. But now they have nearly driven me insane. I have tried to help her off drugs, gotten her out of jail, and done what most people would do for someone they care about. ?
?Since I found out that she cheated on me and stole money from her parents to support her habit, I can’t help but be in such an angry fit that I’ve been mean and hurtful. Now I am at the point where I am this jaded, untrusting and mean person to her, which is not usually my nature. I am no angel, but will this relationship wet my wings and ruin me?

-- Soul Coughing

Being an angel is one thing, but it sounds like this relationship has cast you in the role of martyr. Perhaps you should fold up the wings and ask yourself if the girl is actually worth it. Not all self-destructive damsels in distress can be saved.

Dear Karma Cleanser:
My brother works for a company that regularly gives him high-dollar tickets to a lot of concerts in town. He regularly passes those along to my wife and me because he’s not a big music fan and has to deal with stuck-up musician types all day. My wife and I see maybe half of the shows, and the others we give to friends. This was working out pretty well for all parties involved until recently, when my wife mentioned to her co-worker that we had tickets to a certain country concert. The co-worker turned out to be a big fan and offered to buy the tickets, and the sum she offered was actually pretty good. My wife sold her the tickets and has since sold her tickets to several other shows. Our other friends have noticed that we do not pass them tickets as much, and some have asked if I stopped getting them.?
?I don’t want to be greedy, but it offends me a little that my friends look at us like we’re a free entertainment booth. On the other hand, we both feel bad for making money off of something that came free to us. How bad is it to shaft our friends for a few dollars?

-- Show Man and Stub Lady

How exactly are your friends getting shafted here? So they had a source for freebies — a source that eventually dried up. Though we question the legality of your re-selling comp tickets, we’ll leave that issue to those who enforce the scalping laws. If you want to make amends with your friends, why not use some of the windfall from recent ticket sales to take them out to dinner?

Been bad? Get right with the universe at ?
?karma@creativeloafing.com.??