# Lessons you learned the hard way... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 16, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634 "2008-04-16T19:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/141 "2008-04-23T19:54:49Z")
If you are on a date with a guy and he mentions how hard it has been for a nice guy like him to meet someone you should run away. Anytime a man has to tell you he is a nice guy it is because he is a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/142 "2008-04-23T20:06:36Z")
Just because some one is related to you by blood does not mean you are automatically required to help them out of whatever dumbass-douchebag thing they have gotten themselves into again. When everyone in your social circle, work circle and family circle tells you that you are being used. You.Are.Being.Used. This is not my experience. A coworkers. Don’t gossip. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/143 "2008-04-23T20:12:02Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] When everyone in your social circle, work circle and family circle tells you that you are being used. You.Are.Being.Used. This is not my experience. A coworkers. [/QUOTE] When you’re in this situation you don’t pay any mind to reason. (It’s synonymous with trying to convince a religious person that God doesn’t exist) ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/144 "2008-04-23T20:19:30Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Exercise makes you feel better afterwards. If you do enough of it, you start feeling better during as well. [/QUOTE] When is enough? Seriously? When was this magic “You’ll start to enjoy it” supposed to kick in? 4.5 miles a day wasn’t enough. What would be? Getting back to the OP: Exercise advice is idiosyncratic - what works for one person may not work for everyone. Trying to talk oneself out of depression with negative self-talk doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/145 "2008-04-23T20:24:36Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] I do things the hard way. Everything. It’s my motto and I’ve even considered getting the letters IDTTHW tattooed on me before. [/QUOTE] One of my mottoes is “I’ll find the quick and easy way to do something, no matter how much time and trouble it takes.” [QUOTE=Savannah] If the dog comes out from under the covers and stands on you at 4 a.m., even though she’s not audibly whining, she probably wants to go out and pee. Do not pretend you don’t feel the dog standing on you. Take the dog out for a pee. [/QUOTE] Your baby will not go back to sleep until you feed her, no matter how hard you wish. [QUOTE=emilyforce] Even if it fits just right, do not push a raisin up your nostril. It will suck up moisture from your snot and swell back into a grape, and Mom will not let you have a lollipop from the basket at the pediatrician’s office because you should have known better, and it will be scary getting the grape out because the pediatrician uses giant tweezers. [/QUOTE] A peanut may seem like a safe alternative because it’s non-absorbent, but peanuts are slippery, and your doctor will still need to use the scary tweezers. [QUOTE=Cosmic Relief] RAM modules cannot be hot-swapped. In certain circumstances, damaged RAM modules can be diagnosed by a faint odor of burnt plastic. [/QUOTE] If your new motherboard has a 24-pin power connector, but your old power supply has only 20 pins, the other 4 are not optional. ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/146 "2008-04-23T20:34:37Z")
[QUOTE=gallows fodder] Never trust a man who makes a big deal out of a small act of chivalry. [/QUOTE] As a corollary, if you’re female, never trust a man who doesn’t want to go through the door you opened for him. It’s an act of courtesy towards another human being. Walk through the damn door. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/147 "2008-04-23T21:00:31Z")
If someone has proven himself in a field, over and over, and you - on the other hand - are a complete greenhorn, _listen carefully to the other guy_. He’s what’s known as an _expert_. I didn’t really do that when I built my boat, and it was embarrassing, for a while. [http://atomicshrimp.com/475/](http://atomicshrimp.com/475/) In the long run, I think it was a valuable lesson anyway, and it was all kind of fun - even the humiliation though, so I think some lessons are best learned the hard way. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/148 "2008-04-23T21:07:29Z")
When diagnosing a fault with a lamp. 1. Unplug it. 2. Don’t simply take somebody else’s word for it that they switched the mains supply off. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/149 "2008-04-23T23:42:31Z")
You can try stuffing the underwire back in your bra repeatedly. You can even try sewing it up. But once the underwire makes its initial escape attempt, the bra’s pretty much shot. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/150 "2008-04-24T01:29:28Z")
As others have said, If you don’t think it can get worse, wrong! Reality can be a bitch and I’m trying to teach my daughter this lesson. So far she is not listening. ---
**Author:** ![Rachm\_Qoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Rachm\_Qoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachm_Qoch)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/151 "2008-04-24T06:22:16Z")
Close the blinds. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/152 "2008-04-24T10:24:24Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] If someone has proven himself in a field, over and over, and you - on the other hand - are a complete greenhorn, _listen carefully to the other guy_. He’s what’s known as an _expert_. I didn’t really do that when I built my boat, and it was embarrassing, for a while. [http://atomicshrimp.com/475/](http://atomicshrimp.com/475/) In the long run, I think it was a valuable lesson anyway, and it was all kind of fun - even the humiliation though, so I think some lessons are best learned the hard way. [/QUOTE] Your best teacher is your last mistake. Despite the fact you did it wrong, I think it is superbly awesome you built a boat. I would have done it more wronger than you should I have attempted it, which I wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/153 "2008-04-24T12:10:49Z")
[QUOTE=Rachm Qoch] Close the blinds. [/QUOTE] This made me laugh. Then I looked to see who posted it…and it gave me a little shiver. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![greatshakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@greatshakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greatshakes)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/154 "2008-04-24T17:37:54Z")
Never lend money to friends or relatives. Let strangers think you are rich, friends and relatives think you are poor. If you have a male friend or relative, he will stab you in the back bigtime in the presence of a beautiful woman, even if he is married. If somebody wants my opinion, they will ask. Working hard and being smart beats being smart. An ounce of image beats a pound of performance. Keep your hand on your wallet. If you have something good going on, keep quiet about it. If somebody has the option of saving my life and saving 50 bucks, so long, greatshakes! ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/155 "2008-04-24T18:17:27Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Graduate school is designed to crush your soul and make you question everything you once believed about yourself (ie, that you are a smart or capable human being). That doesn’t mean that grad school isn’t worthwhile, but it’s far more painful than you’d expect. Amen > [@Anne Neville](#): > > Graduate school isn’t much like undergrad. If the reason you’re thinking of going to graduate school is to continue the lifestyle you had as an undergrad, or because you’re scared of the different lifestyle you might have if you went out into the real world and got a job, you’re going to be disappointed. Go to grad school only if you know you need the graduate degree for a specific job you want, or if you really love the subject and can’t bear to not be doing it. Meh, grad school was consistent work even if it sucked. Not like undergrad, but not like real job. As long as you set your expectations low, live on microwave burritos and cheap beer, it delays responsibility. That is at least how it works in science, where you get paid a living wage. > [@Anne Neville](#): > > Amen to this! Fortunately, I got to learn this one by watching other people make this mistake. 99% of the time, you’ll get a higher grade in physics lab if you make a reasonable effort and turn in your lab reports on time than you will if you try to make them perfect and end up turning in all your lab reports at the end of the semester. TA’s hate grading late papers, and your grade will show it if you make your TA do something s/he hates to do. I had some seriously nice TA’s as an undergrad. They must have liked me, because twice I turned all my labs in during finals week and never was deducted late points. If my students did that to me I would have thrown them in the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634/156 "2008-04-24T22:51:04Z")
Never apply Ben-Gay directly after taking a hot shower/bath. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lessons-you-learned-the-hard-way/445634.md?page=7)