Mary Killen

Dear Mary: What’s the cure for a workshy teenager?

Plus: What suitcases without wheels are good for, and professional advice at parties

• From magazine issue: 21 June 2014

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  Mary Killen

  Dear Mary: What’s the cure for a workshy teenager?

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Alexander Larman

What happened to the Rishi Sunak I knew at school?

Q. My godmother has given me a hugely expensive, very beautiful Italian leather weekend case for my 21st. Unfortunately it has no wheels and is therefore totally useless. How can I tactfully ask her to swap it for a case with wheels without making her feel she has been incredibly stupid?
— Name and address withheld

A. Your godmother is clearly better informed than you are. Wheeled luggage is unwelcome in the smartest houses due to the damage done to rugs, staircases and skirting boards. If you’re lucky enough to be invited, you now have the right kit for smart houses, into and out of which you probably won’t be carrying the case yourself anyway.

Q. In your column of 26 April, a correspondent wrote that, as a lawyer, he was irritated by people asking him for free advice at social gatherings. I have known of one way a lawyer dealt with this. A recently qualified doctor was at a party and said to a lawyer there, ‘Now that I am a doctor, people — some of whom I hardly know — approach me and ask for advice about their various medical complaints. How do you, as a professional man, handle this situation?’ The lawyer replied, ‘I give them the advice that they want and the next day I send them an invoice for services rendered.’ ‘Excellent,’ said the doctor, ‘that’s what I will do.’
The following day, at the doctor’s rooms, an invoice arrived for him from the lawyer.
— L.S., by email

A. Thank you for supplying this material.