DR. WALLACE: I work as a server in a nice restaurant, which helps to support me as I'm a first-year college student. Most of my coworkers are easy enough to get along with, but a recent new hire, a nice enough girl, can't seem to stop asking me for opinions about everything!

I've been working this job for about eight months so it's not like I've got years and years of experience, but for some reason she asks me my opinion about how to talk to customers, how often to go by the tables, how appropriate it is to make recommendations when they ask a simple question like, "What's good here?" and so forth.

So far, I've been very accommodating to her, and certainly in her first week, I fully understood that answering a lot of her questions would be very helpful for her. But she's been working with us now for about six weeks, and she's still asking 70% as many questions every night I work with her, compared to how many questions she asked me the first week! What can I do about this? I want to be nice and help her, but I'm starting to feel exasperated about her seeking my advice on seemingly trivial matters that she should have figured out by now. — Bombarded With Questions, via email

BOMBARDED WITH QUESTIONS: My advice would be twofold. First, invite her to sit down with you for 20 minutes after one of your shifts at a time you can afford to in your personal schedule. At this meeting, encourage her to ask you your opinion about anything she would like to know, and to ask you as many questions as she would like, all at once.

Then, when things conclude, politely tell her that you are very happy to help her, but that being asked constant questions during the flow of your daily work interrupts your concentration and momentum that you have in taking care of your customers.

Second, do let her know that if she has something she feels is truly urgent, it is all right to ask you about it during a work shift. If you similarly find a future question to indeed be urgent, you'll take some time to answer her to the best of your ability. However, if it's something you feel is trivial, tell her you're going to smile at her warmly, pat her on the back, and tell her, "You're fully capable of sorting that one out yourself, my friend."

By doing these two things, you will be conveying to her that you are indeed willing to help her, but that your help is not to be sought for every minor, impulsive question she encounters.

HE EXPECTS ME TO READ HIS MIND

DR. WALLACE: My older brother is a senior in high school and I'm a sophomore. As his sister, I always want to help him, and a month ago we set up an arrangement where I help him with various clerical items and tasks that he doesn't always have time to complete. In exchange, he gives me a portion of his weekly allowance, so I feel this is fair for both of us.

The first couple of weeks, everything went smoothly, but in the last 10 days, he has blown up at me twice! He doesn't always clarify exactly what he wants and sometimes when I text him, he doesn't reply, or if he does reply, it comes after I've already had to decide and do something.

He felt that a couple of the things I was supposed to help him with, I didn't do the way he wanted, and he would've been better off not having me touch those items at all! He even barked at me and told me I should have more common sense. I didn't get any direct feedback from him, so I did what I thought he would've wanted, but obviously, he wasn't happy. The past few days have gone smoothly again, but I must admit I don't like the tension that I feel walking on eggshells trying to make decisions for him because he still doesn't reply to my texts or phone calls promptly. What should I do about this? I enjoy the extra money, but I could do without all this tension. The crazy thing is, we have always been close and gotten along great up until we started this new arrangement. — The Tasks Are Sometimes Unclear, via email

THE TASKS ARE SOMETIMES UNCLEAR: I feel you should put an end to this arrangement immediately. There are a lot of different ways you can make some extra spending money, and this avenue has proven to be more trouble than it's worth, especially for you.

Jeopardizing what was once a very harmonious and close sibling relationship in this manner is not healthy for either of you. Give him some notice, perhaps one more week, and let him know that you prefer to return to just being his sister rather than his personal assistant. I'm sure if you put the word out in your community, you can find some part-time work helping friends or neighbors in your local area with reasonable tasks that can help you bring in a little extra cash if that's your goal.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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