DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: I have only been at my job since I graduated with my master’s last spring.

I started as a lab tech, with the understanding that when there was an opening on the research team I would be moved into it. That was more than fine with because what we are working on here dovetails almost perfectly with my degree field, making the opportunity well worth the fairly small wait.

My move up happened in early December, and while I am enjoying the work I’m doing and feel I am fitting well into the team, two of the techs I used to work with have been letting me know, like constantly, they think I believe I am hotsh#t since I made the move up, which could not be less true.

I work with scientists, all of them fairly brilliant, but not very tuned into the world around them. They are oblivious to the crap treatment and attitude I am getting from the two techs.

Do you think it is worth it to bring up what has been going on with my immediate supervisor, or should I let it go and hope the nasty treatment will fizzle out? --- DON’T DESERVE IT

DEAR DON’T DESERVE IT: While I don’t know the specifics of life in a research laboratory, I would think the people politics are the same as you’d find in just about any kind of workplace.

My guess is the techs giving you trouble are jealous of your promotion. Hopefully they’ll get over it sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, unless their behavior is posing a danger or disrupting the smooth operation of the lab, there’s probably little to be gained by bringing it up to your supervisor at this point. It may potentially put you in the light of being on the thin-skinned side or prone to spot offensive behavior where others on the team don’t.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My boyfriend’s mother told me once how he was tested for being autistic when he was a kid and would get totally tuned into whatever he was interested in. His mom has a brother on the spectrum, but only mildly so, but still she was always watching for it in her own kids.

I don’t really care if my boyfriend is even a little on the spectrum, but I do worry about how wrapped up he gets in his latest interest.

For instance, he started hunting down and collecting classic Hot Wheels cars. He has mostly gone for models he just likes and aren’t necessarily all that valuable. The most he’s paid so far is $65 for one on Etsy, and for his birthday and Christmas he asked his family and me for exact models instead of anything else.

I asked him what he intends to do with the 80 or so we have at our house and he said he is not sure yet.

We went through something like this when he was collecting shot glasses, but that didn’t last very long and they ended up being given away to friends and a local bar that has a display of all different kinds of drinking glasses from around the country and around the world.

Before that he was big into baseball cards, like his dad, but then he realized how expensive that was and sold most of what he had collected.

I have no problem with his collecting stuff, but do you think he maybe is a little on the spectrum? --- MY BOYFRIEND THE COLLECTOR

DEAR MY BOYFRIEND THE COLLECTOR: I’m not an expert, however you don’t mention anything that indicates your boyfriend is showing more than an interest in various hobbies.

It doesn’t sound like he’s draining his bank account, neglecting his loved ones, or taking over your home with his latest collection. As a matter of fact, it seems to me he demonstrated he’s thinking things through rather than being driven by an obsession when he realized how expensive baseball card collecting could get and decided against pursuing that pastime.

It may be your boyfriend hasn’t found the passion that’ll follow him through life. He possibly never will get that into one thing only, but rather drift into and out of what he fancies at the moment, picking up knowledge about different fields of interest as he goes along.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: I am just back from a visit with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids. I have never been so happy to be back home, where I can set my thermostat to a comfortable 72 degrees, versus the freeze-out my wife and I just endured during our visit.

I have had run-ins with my son-in-law before, but this was the worst. He is into whatever is eco-friendly hot at the moment and he read about how much better it is for the environment to keep the winter thermostat settings at 64 degrees.

I did a little research on my own after the first 12 hours we were bundled up in their house and found out that people over 65, and with some health conditions in particular, are endangered by staying too long in an environment under 68 degrees. The same goes for young children.

That’s more of a warning than a recommendation for a couple like my wife and me, both 71 and with high blood pressure for her and a past stroke for me.

When we told him about this, the most he would do was push the dial “all the way up” (his words) to 66. And our daughter, God bless her, went along with his hairbrained ideas, even after I called him out on them.

We agree we love our daughter and her family, including her jackass of a husband, but my wife and I have sworn off visiting them until either he wises up or the weather gets a hell of a lot warmer in their part of the country.

Any reason we’re the ones being stubborn here? --- NOT GOING BACK

DEAR NOT GOING BACK: I for one don’t blame you in the least for not wanting to freeze your way through a visit, especially with immediate family.

In our house, there isn’t always total agreement on what constitutes the best indoor temperature, but when guests are around we make sure they’re comfortable for the duration of their stay, even if it means we have to adjust the thermostat and/or layer up or down.

I’m with you entirely in your decision to avoid the family refrigerator until the spring thaw.