Surrender the ball cap but not your confidence

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I have never been so mad in my life. I went downtown and this guy stole my hat off my head — a very special ball cap — and I didn’t do a thing about it, big wimp that I am. I just had to let him have it. I wasn’t in a store, and there was no one close by — just us on the street. What if he had a knife?

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/10/2017 (3266 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I have never been so mad in my life. I went downtown and this guy stole my hat off my head — a very special ball cap — and I didn’t do a thing about it, big wimp that I am. I just had to let him have it. I wasn’t in a store, and there was no one close by — just us on the street. What if he had a knife?

I don’t know if I did the right thing, but these days you never know. He just reached over and took it off my head, like he knew I was too much of a weakling to take on a big thug like him. Should I have done anything different? — Still Furious, River Heights

Dear Furious: People in law enforcement might have a different answer, but my thought was, “Let the guy have the hat, and walk away with your body intact.”

That’s a sad thing to have to say, but these days it can get rough and you could get stuck with a knife, or beaten.

I have a friend who was held at gunpoint and robbed. It took her a long time to really get over it and I don’t know if she’s 100 per cent over it yet.

The best thing you can do now is get some counselling to work it out so you don’t stay angry at this incident, or at yourself, or at the world. Don’t let that thief take your confidence and your good feelings away with the ball cap.

Call Klinic if you need a starting place. Tell the phone counsellor what happened and how you feel on their 204-786-8686 crisis line. They will have suggestions for you.

There’s also Klinic free drop-in counselling at 870 Portage Ave., most days and some evenings of the week. Call ahead for hours of the day you want to go (204-784-4067).

You will also hear about the Tuesday drop-in counselling in Transcona, should that pertain to you.

 

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave. Winnipeg R2X 3B6.

Miss Lonelyhearts

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Uncaring hubby fell flat at first hurdle

Maureen Scurfield 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I re-rented my favourite summer cabin this fall because I’m trying to finish my thesis. My husband of just over a year was very annoyed with me for going on my own, but didn’t say much about it because I paid.

I thought we were both OK with this arrangement, until I got the flu up at the lake very badly and couldn’t keep anything down. I felt faint. I phoned him and he said he was at a party with the guys. I could hear music and girls laughing.

He wouldn’t come for me, so at 4 a.m. when I was getting even more sick and scared, I drove back to the city unannounced.

I went straight to my parents’ house and pretty much fell through the door. Mom said to me when she grabbed me: “This is not right. You could have died in the ditch. Where is your husband?”

Respectful separation: an obvious oxymoron

Judy Waytiuk 6 minute read Preview

Respectful separation: an obvious oxymoron

Judy Waytiuk 6 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

“We want a fair and respectful relationship with Canada,” Alberta separatist leader Keith Wilson told the CBC commentator. He paused. Briefly. “On our terms.”

He followed up with a poorly-veiled threat. Trade goods moving east or west across Canada, especially to and from Vancouver, must pass through Alberta, he mused, so…

Wilson and his ilk are blackmailing Canada. If they win this referendum vote, he intends — with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s acquiescence — to pull the pin on a genuine separation referendum grenade. The separatists’ transition plan has been largely anonymously authored — much like Trump’s blueprint Project 2025.

Smith claims Albertans will vote against separation. She’s bluffing. Her precarious personal political survival tightrope as she tries to balance atop the UCP could easily carry Canada down a potentially disastrous road. All it will take is for separatists to turn out en masse (about 25 per cent of Albertans, if you believe the polls), and those supporting Canada to stay home because they think it’s in the bag for them.

Read
2:00 AM CDT

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read Preview

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

MOON ALERT: Avoid shopping or important decisions from 4:30 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. After that, the moon moves from Aries into Taurus.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Financial discussions, especially about speculation, sports or dealing with your kids, might be confrontational. However, the bigger news is that a partner, spouse or close friend might surprise you by saying or doing something you least expect. Stay tuned.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Read
2:00 AM CDT

Wab Kinew as ‘communicator in chief’

Paul G. Thomas 6 minute read Preview

Wab Kinew as ‘communicator in chief’

Paul G. Thomas 6 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Premier Wab Kinew and his party have been riding high in the polls longer than normal for a government one year or less away from its first re-election contest. One reason is his ubiquitous, dominating communications presence as NDP leader and premier.

The argument here is that Kinew has supplemented his prerogatives as premier and party leader (such as appointing cabinet ministers and approving party nominations) with the skilful use of communications to advance his policy agenda, boost his personal popularity and maintain the competitive advantage of his party over the opposition Progressive Conservatives.

Communications has always been a significant part of politics and policy making. However, in the contemporary political and media environments, communications considerations have moved from the background to the foreground of decision-making by political parties, including when they are performing in the role of government. Campaigning and governing now overlap in what has been described as a permanent election campaign.

Political parties use communications strategies for several purposes: to establish an image of the leader which makes a positive emotional connection with voters; to promote a coherent message and to keep party members on message; and to gain favourable media coverage for its policies and other actions on almost a daily basis.

Read
2:00 AM CDT

‘In Normandy, we remember’

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Preview

‘In Normandy, we remember’

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Saturday, Sep. 26, 2026

Travelling nearly 7,000 km from his home in France to Winnipeg gave Gabriel Zaranski a new perspective on warfare.

“It’s very different to speak about war in school (than) to speak with real people who (have fought) in a war,” he said. “We can feel the emotion when they speak … The testimony has more impact when it’s real soldiers.”

Zaranski is one of 14 Grade 12 students from Bayeux, a town in France’s Normandy region, in Winnipeg this week for a learning tour.

The students, who attend Lycée Arcisse de Caumont high school, met on Saturday with veterans from the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, a local military regiment, to discuss their studies and the regiment’s role in the Second World War.

Read
Saturday, Sep. 26, 2026

Is another goalie on Jets’ wish list?

Ken Wiebe 6 minute read Preview

Is another goalie on Jets’ wish list?

Ken Wiebe 6 minute read Yesterday at 6:59 PM CDT

Kevin Cheveldayoff and company are down to the short strokes.

With the opening-day roster due on Monday afternoon, the Winnipeg Jets took steps on the weekend to get down to the final number.

As it stood on Sunday, the Jets were down to 24 healthy players in training camp after centre Danny Zhilkin and defenceman Henry Thrun were placed on waivers.

With a maximum of 23 spots available, the only things left to determine are whether the Jets are interested in claiming a more experienced goalie to serve as the backup to Stuart Skinner and if centre Brayden Yager will break camp with the big club.

Read
Yesterday at 6:59 PM CDT