# Lessons you learned the 'hard way' **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 18, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849 "2005-06-18T23:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![woodstock989](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f05b48/32.png) [@woodstock989](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstock989)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/101 "2005-07-05T01:00:46Z")
…Always wear a helmet when snowboarding. …Getting staples in your head hurts more than getting hit with the chairlift. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/102 "2005-07-05T01:08:22Z")
1. Never, ever start to drink beer on a hot summer day, and then just when you’ve got a buzz going, switch to cold sake. You’ve lost your sense of how much to drink, and cold sake should be sipped, not guzzled. 2. If you go into business with a friend (or really anyone) have a method of resolving issues before they become one. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/103 "2005-07-05T04:26:50Z")
Things I have learned the hard way from owning a coffee shop. [ol] [li]You actually have to tell employees not to store the toilet plunger in the kitchen.[/li][li]You also have to tell employees not TO LOAN OUT THE FREAKIN AIRPOTS to customers.[/li][li]giving the customres loaner acoustic guitars cool. Loaner bongos…less cool[/li][li]You actually have to tell customers that they cant bring in cheesecake from outside. [/li][li]High school and college kids will buy anything if they think its bad for them.[/li][li]Letting 18 year old employees name the drinks they come up will results in tasty beverages such as “the fat hoe” and “the unstoppable force of pain”[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/104 "2005-07-05T14:06:19Z")
The lesson I learned the hard way: You can ALWAYS quit… ALWAYS! I learned this from when I was student teaching. I got assigned to a class and immediately started having problems. I could have quit, but I didn’t and stuck it out (like my dad used to tell me… man oh man what a mistake!) and I ended up failing the course. Another lesson that I learned that turned out positive: Ask her out. The worst that can happen is she will say, “No.” I was always scared of asking out girls, especially when I was in college. I finally got the gumption to ask out this one girl and she said yes. We ended up hitting if off famously and now we’ve been married 11 years this year! ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/105 "2005-07-05T14:33:40Z")
Never marry on the rebound. Never. Never. NEVER!!! ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/106 "2005-07-05T21:27:44Z")
Along the same lines, don’t get married because you’re approaching thirty and you’re horrified by the idea of being single at thirty. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/107 "2005-07-05T21:42:53Z")
> [@bluethree](#): > > Along the same lines, don’t get married because you’re approaching thirty and you’re horrified by the idea of being single at thirty. Yeah, but does this still apply at fifty? (I have a _friend_ who wants to know.) ---
**Author:** ![RFBluesValentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@RFBluesValentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RFBluesValentine)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/108 "2005-07-06T00:03:50Z")
$6.50 an hour is not enough to make up for feeling worthless because of your job. Things end. It’s okay. You can live without him. In a couple of weeks, you won’t start crying in the middle of the grocery store because they’re playing love songs. Then you’ll just feel like throwing up. Give it a few months. Yes, it’s stupid to have to brake on a downhill. But there’s a cop sitting down there, stopping all the other people who agree with you. If a guy says he’s not lying, he probably is. If he says, “I can live without sex right away,” he means, “…because I’m getting it from about 25 other girls.” Oh yeah, and it’s a big red flag when he shows no interest in you as a person. Some people are incapable of caring about anyone other than themselves. Don’t date when the thought of your ex still makes you feel like throwing up. It keeps you from seeing that some people only love themselves. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/109 "2005-07-06T00:04:33Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > I should never date the shy and introverted. I end up eating them for lunch unintentionally. Eating them for lunch just like they were… poppy seeds? (sorry, everyone else, inside joke) Anyhow, my substantive contribution to this thread is that it IS possible to be friends with ex’s, there’s just no guarantee that it will work. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/110 "2005-07-06T00:48:29Z")
> [@bluethree](#): > > Along the same lines, don’t get married because you’re approaching thirty and you’re horrified by the idea of being single at thirty. Hell, I have friends who say that they’ve learned the hard way not to marry _before_ they’re 30. This isn’t 1905, and the farm’s not going to go under just because you haven’t married and had 12 children by the time you’re 28. I married a little while before 30, but **Mrs. Fresh** was over 30 at the time, so I guess at least one of us knew what they were doing when they said “I do.” ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849/111 "2005-07-06T06:11:12Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Blah blah blah More important than sex. 😕 Okay, now you’ve lost me. 😃 Mine: When you have a crush on the cute girl in your English class, ask her out. Years later when you’re out of high school, you’ll suddenly realize she had a crush on you too. :smack: If you have a cow-orker (or in this case, a group member for a year-long school project) who is so bad at his job he’s actively damaging to the project and causes you do to more work because of him, kick him out of the group / talk to the manager. Yes, even if he’s the roommate of another group member. It will save you months of frustration. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/308849.md?page=5)