Hi, Dr. Phil.
My name is Charlie,
and due to the recent events of the coronavirus,
I've had to move back home with my parents.
And that has increased my anxiety and depression.
The reason I moved back home
is because me and my ex-girlfriend broke up,
and it's been causing me a lot of angst and anxiety.
I don't like living here, it drives me insane.
The reason is is because my parents
are crazy helicopter parents.
They look at where I am all the time on their phones
and cannot leave me alone.
For example, the other day I was at my work,
my mom calls me like 15 times,
and then she decides to think
she should call the State Police to go check on me.
I'm like, what in the heck?
This is crazy.
Now, Charlie's gonna join the conversation
from his parents' home in Oregon,
but in a different part of the house.
Now, Charlie, how tough is it to live outside
on your own as an adult,
and then have to move back in with your parents?
It's been very difficult.
It's been very confusing.
And I wish I could afford to still live on my own,
but during these times, it's very difficult
because of, obviously, what's going on in the world.
And I wish that I could be on my own,
but right now, I can't afford it, and it's too expensive.
Well, this is a situation not of your own making,
no question about it.
This is a situation where unemployment has hit
the highest level since the Great Depression,
businesses are closing right and left,
people that have been otherwise working
and making their own way through no fault of their own
have just been really shut down.
So, I understand that there's
not a lot you can do about that at this point,
but you, in moving home,
do you think that you need to make adjustments
to be a good house guest,
or do you think you oughta just be able to continue to live
like you were when you were on your own?
I mean, I feel like I'm working,
and I feel like I am working,
I am working and trying to save some money up
during this time, I am working for Instacart.
Right.
And doing things to better myself,
and I am sleeping longer than I used to,
but right now, I feel like I'm trying to better myself
during these hard times,
and it's hard because there isn't a lot we can do.
And how many hours a week are you working?
Four hours a day.
Okay, so you may work in half-time, something like that?
Mm hmm.
Okay.
'Cause I have to do one order,
and one order takes about like an hour.
'Cause I have to go grocery shopping for them.
I don't just go pick up the groceries
and then bring them back.
I actually have to get the groceries,
and I have to find where they are in the grocery store.
Yeah, which is not always easy, I understand.
But now, you say,
and I was talking to your mother about this earlier,
and she confesses to some of it and not some of it,
but she says you say that she's overprotective,
helicopter, actually put a location tracker on your phone,
and actually has sent the police to your job
when you didn't show up on time.
Yeah, so, the other day I was working,
and I told my mom I closed at eight o'clock.
And I normally do close at eight o'clock,
but if we're busy, we're allowed to stay open.
And I work at a bar,
and my owner wants me to stay open if we're late,
or if we're busy, so I decided to stay open.
We had like 10 customers in there.
And so, I was like, well, might as well stay open.
And so I stayed open.
And she tried calling me but I was charging my phone
in the back room and I wasn't on my phone
while I was working.
And she decided to, she was like
I'm gonna get a hold of the State Police,
but then she's like, oh wait, one of my best friends.
Charlie's best friends.
One of my best friends works for a police
that's right next to the bar that I work at.
And she had him go check on me
to make sure that I was okay.
Okay, now the week before he had,
Chuck and I were in the bar
and it's way out in the middle of nowhere,
and he said, I gotta close, you guys,
you guys gotta get outta here,
so I knew it closed at eight o'clock.
I was just calling to see if he was going to come home.
There was only two of you.
And then, I knew that you weren't there cleaning
for like two and a half hours late,
and you weren't answering,
and I called the bar.
So, then I (audio cutting out) I was positive
that somebody had come in and murdered you
and robbed the place.
Oh my gosh, Mom.
It worked out perfectly that I texted your friend
and he said, oh, I'll just go check.
It was no big deal.