# Things you learned the hard way **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 3, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922 "2020-04-03T00:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/141 "2020-04-15T15:30:16Z")
Even if it’s your relative who you just signed papers with for a loan: make sure that you get a copy. Don’t wait until the relative’s copy has mysteriously disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/142 "2020-04-15T19:29:15Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Try mandolin strings sometime. Hint: protective eyewear encouraged. I have quite a few mandolin-type objects here and I always wear eye protection. Okay, a lesson: When tuning a cheap mandolin, the neck will break before the lowest strings do. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/143 "2020-04-15T19:51:21Z")
If you make a pan pizza, and put it on a wire rack to cool, don’t lift the wire rack over your head to see what the bottom of the pizza looks like. Regarding all the cable breaking talk – thankfully I didn’t learn this personally but people have been grievously injured and even killed in tug-of-war games, sometimes due to pinching injuries but also when the rope breaks. This is surprisingly common. > **[A History of Tug-of-War Fatalities - Priceonomics](https://priceonomics.com/a-history-of-tug-of-war-fatalities/)** > > Ignore simple physics and your appendage could be amputated by a tug of war rope. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/144 "2020-04-17T21:08:23Z")
I just learned today that walking home from the store with two paper bags is much, much harder than walking home with reusable bags. For one, you can’t hook paper bags over your shoulders like reusable bags. You have to carry them in your hands, which digs into your fingers and gives you sore arms. And those handles on paper bags are only designed to last long enough to lift them into your car, not carry them several blocks. I wish I could continue using my reusable bags, but they’re not allowed during the pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/145 "2020-04-17T21:58:41Z")
**WildaBeast** could you put the paper bags inside your reusable bags and carry them home that way? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/146 "2020-04-17T23:09:14Z")
Probably, if I had brought them with me. Or better still, I should have brought my own cart (although they would have made me take one of the store’s carts so they can track how many people are in the store). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/147 "2021-09-27T00:15:41Z")
As you age, previously completely harmless and unconscious postures and movements will inflict repetitive stress injuries on you, and you’ll have to learn not to do them. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/148 "2021-09-27T00:20:00Z")
If you are trying to get an old black and white television to run, trying to power it up by hooking it up to an electric fence might not be to your advantage. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/149 "2021-09-27T06:42:25Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > As you age, previously completely harmless and unconscious postures and movements will inflict repetitive stress injuries on you, and you’ll have to learn not to do them. That came into my life not long ago. I often sat at the computer with my right leg tucked under my left, like sitting cross-legged but with one foot on the floor. It was a comfortable alternative until it started to affect my right hip. Stopped doing it and hip’s fine now. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922/150 "2021-09-27T07:49:25Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > When ANYONE says they gotta puke, pull over fast!:eek: This advice requires some adjustment when you’re taking your friend for a glider ride in a two-seat glider at 12,000 feet. The adjusted advice is: Don’t store the barf bag underneath the seat! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-learned-the-hard-way/850922.md?page=7)