Dear Amy: For over a decade my family and "the Smiths" have vacationed together on our favorite island off the Southern coast. Our children adore the parents and their children.

The Smiths are much more affluent than we, and owned their own home on the island for many years while we rented a house nearby. Last year they sold their home (for an enormous profit, I might add), so now they also must rent a home for our trip.

Imagine our surprise when we learned that they booked the same rental house we have used for several years. This is incredibly hurtful, but especially because we depended on the significant "repeat renter discount" we received from the unit owners. We are heartbroken that our friends seemed to have no sense of this undermining us.

We are unsure how to move forward. Should we say something about our hurt feelings just to clear the air? Should we act like nothing's wrong and pay for a more expensive rental and let it go? Or should we take the hint that maybe they don't feel the same way toward us as we do about them and not go on the trip this year?

Amy says: It is almost impossible to imagine that these savvy homeowners on a vacation island are unaware of how attached annual renters become to their usual rental property. Regular renters are often prized by landlords, who offer discounts to reliable annual tenants as both rewards and incentives.

You could respond by saying, quite frankly, "You guys snapped up the house we've been renting, and now we're scrambling to find a new rental. I'm not sure we'll be able to find a place we can afford, so we're going to have to leave our plans up in the air for now."

Too many offers

Dear Amy: After a fairly long job search, I was finally offered a position with a firm I'd interviewed with three times over the course of many months. I was thrilled to get an offer and accepted the position. I'm supposed to start in two weeks.

Well, as luck would have it, I've also just received a solid offer from another firm, and this one pays more and probably is a better fit for me. This brings on an ethical dilemma: Do I have to go with the first offer, or can I decline it, even after accepting it?

Amy says: Congratulations, and welcome to the "when it rains, it pours" club. This situation surely happens with some regularity, as candidates pursue many job leads at once.

You are obligated to work in the position that is best suited for you. Plus, I doubt any potential employer wants to be your second choice. Accept the second-offered position, and once your acceptance is verified and you have a solid start date, contact the initial company to apologize and tell them that you are going to have to renege on their offer.

Send questions to Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com.