Harriette Cole: Everyone in the restaurant was staring, and my friend pretended she didn’t know me

DEAR HARRIETTE I m feeling embarrassed after something that happened with a close friend Related Articles Harriette Cole My tattletale co-worker keeps running to the boss Harriette Cole He s flaky and brooding but I can t stay away Harriette Cole I can t be happy when I m with my childless friends Harriette Cole I can t get over what my child stated about my drinking Harriette Cole The caption on my middle-schooler s TikTok selfie shocked me We were out together at a restaurant When we were getting up to leave I slipped and fell in front of everyone It was one of those moments where the whole room got quiet and everyone stared Instead of helping me up or checking if I was OK my friend straightaway walked toward the door and pretended she didn t know me I had to pick myself up off the floor alone while strangers looked at me with pity and my own friend abandoned me I felt altogether humiliated When I brought it up later my friend laughed it off and announced she didn t know how to react She never apologized or displayed any real concern I m struggling with how to move forward because I invariably thought real friends were supposed to show up for each other especially in embarrassing or vulnerable moments Should I confront her more seriously about how much this hurt me or is this a sign that our friendship isn t as strong as I thought True Friendship DEAR TRUE FRIENDSHIP Tell her you need to revisit what happened that day Ask why she would not help you in an obvious moment of distress Tell her it hurt your feelings that she did not have your back Press her for why she would walk away I wondered if you had been drinking If you were inebriated she still should have helped you but that might be a sign for you to curb your drinking If you have had any such mishap before due to that it could be a trigger for her If not you may want to check to see if anything else is askew in your body to cause you to fall DEAR HARRIETTE Over the past minimal years I ve been fortunate enough to do well in my career and build particular financial stability for myself I m proud of how far I ve come especially because my sibling and I grew up without much and I know how hard it is to break out of that cycle The dilemma is my sibling seems to resent me for it Lately almost every conversation between us turns into an argument and there s an underlying tension that wasn t there before They make little comments about my luck or imply that I think I m better than everyone else now which couldn t be further from the truth I ve even offered to help them out financially when I can but that just seems to make things worse It feels like no matter what I say or do the jealousy just keeps growing and it s starting to really damage our relationship I miss how close we used to be but I also feel like I m constantly walking on eggshells I don t want my success to come at the cost of losing my family but I also can t apologize for the life I ve worked so hard to build Is there a way to repair our bond when jealousy seems to be standing in the way The Divide Related Articles Dear Abby I checked her story about a celebrity classmate and proved she was lying Asking Eric My mother has an inappropriate connection with my ex-boyfriend Harriette Cole My tattletale co-worker keeps running to the boss Miss Manners The graduation invitation now sounds almost like a threat Dear Abby I heard my father-in-law sneak a woman into the basement DEAR THE DIVIDE Write your sibling a heartfelt letter expressing how much you love and miss them and that you want to be close again Ask that they let go of whatever is standing in the way of your connection Say that no matter what you will invariably love them From then on it s on them You cannot control anyone Stop begging and live your life Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams You can send questions to askharriette harriettecole com or c o Andrews McMeel Syndication Walnut St Kansas City MO