DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: I haven’t had that many jobs, but the ones I have had have been working with both men and women.

My new boss said to me right after I started working for her the reason hers is an all-female company is because she will only work with women.

What is even weirder is that she is completely different with men when we visit male clients or they come into the office than she is with just her regular staff. Sometimes she turns it on and off so fast, none of us know if we’ll be seeing the charmer or the “no men allowed” boss as soon as it is just us again.

Is this normal? --- ONE OF THE WOMEN

DEAR ONE OF THE WOMEN: While it may not be entirely normal — or even legal in some places — I too once knew someone like your boss. In her case, she claimed to only trust women based on having had to work her way up in a then male-dominated industry.

In addition to refusing to have men work for her, to hear her talk, it was clear to me she also had very high, if not unrealistic, expectations for those women she supervised. From what I was told, it often made for a tense, rather than a relaxed work atmosphere.

Whatever her reason, your boss has set her policy, and it sounds like she’s committed to it. Her company, her rules.

Hopefully, you’ll learn something useful in your new job, even if it’s just how to deal with an unpredictable boss.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My daughter gets miffed with me when I bring it up, but I have told her I am worried about what her fertility treatments may mean for her health in the future. I have seen studies that show increased risk of certain cancers for women who use these treatments to get pregnant.

As much as I want to be a grandpa, am I wrong to not want to lose my daughter for the sake of having a grandchild? --- WORRIED DAD

DEAR WORRIED DAD: I imagine that your daughter has also taken into account the overall effects of her fertility treatments on her own health, and while your concern for her is admirable, it might be adding stress to what’s likely an already difficult and demanding situation for her.

Many commonly used fertility treatments have been around long enough to be closely monitored and studied not only for their success rates, but also for both their short- and long-term issues for mothers and babies.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: I do not get to see my biological grandfather (my mother’s father) very often, and that is fine by me. He and my grandmother divorced when my mother was real little, and she was raised more by my step-grandpa, who is one of my most favorite people in the world. He is gentle and quiet, and has so much patience, even when all nine of us grandkids are around his and my grandma’s house or at other places where the family gets together.

So far I spent part of three summer vacations and one Christmas one with my biological grandfather. Every time my brother and I have been around him, he has cursed — a lot — and gets mad at us for everything we do that he does not like. He dresses like a biker (that is what my mom says), drinks a lot of beer, and smokes cigarettes and smelly cigars.

I really hate when we have to be around him, but my mom says since we are his grandkids, he has a right to get to spend some time with us too. I do not know if she even loves him very much, but she always does what she thinks is right. That is just how she was raised and how she is raising us.

My step-grandpa is such a sweetie, how could my grandmother EVER marry someone like our “real” grandfather? --- PREFER MY STEP-GRANDPA

DEAR PREFER MY STEP-GRANDPA: Your grandmother was young once, and perhaps had a very different idea of the right man for her when she met and married her first husband. Whatever the circumstances of their parting, it sounds like she found someone who made her happier in the long-run, and is a good father and grandfather.

Although you find the time you spend with your biological grandfather less than pleasant, it might just be providing you with some very important skills.

You’ll encounter all sorts of people throughout your life, and some of them, including the most difficult, will help you understand and relate better to others you meet along the way.