As for marrying foreign nationals, when I was in Korea a guy in my unit wanted to marry a Korean lady. Things were made very hard for him. The idea she might be a hooker was brought up. For crying out loud, he met her in church. There were two little Christian churches in the small town by our post. One was Presbyterian, where he visited(more to improve his language skills) and where he met his wife to be. This was in 1976.
Back when I worked at a methadone treatment clinic I got to meet dozens of hookers. The majority of them were churchgoers. I’m not sure why you express this as though the two descriptions are mutually exclusive.
Ooooh, call me naive, huh?
I didn’t want to make the post too long, but I knew from him she worked at a regular job, and didn’t want to go out partying. He said “she’s kind of introverted.”
Not nearly as bad as the rest, but I had some boom/bust times in my early 20s as I floundered around after college fairly directionless. During any rough time, I always got the give up your daily Starbucks and you’ll be a millionaire lectures. That was the last thing I needed to hear after already cutting way back on everything. And, it wasn’t a needed lecture, what I was learning is that contract jobs really do have an end and it was time to start going full time as the booms weren’t good enough.
I have heard this, and my response is always “Really? Can you name one person that has gotten rich from quitting Starbucks?”
Wasn’t that a Henny Youngman quip? (Or some other comedian/humorist from that era?)
“Do what you love, and the money will follow.”
I don’t know how anyone can say that with a straight face.
When my dog was younger, I wanted him to be a therapy dog visiting in hospitals, as he was doing really well with all his training. The dog’s age requirement was I believe 1 years old (or maybe 18 months?) When he was approaching the minimum age, I contacted the coordinator for the program to see what the next steps were, since he was close to the right age. She said something to the effect of “Oh, that’s still pretty young for a dog to pass the test, he probably won’t make it in.”
So a few months later when they had the next round of testing, we went in and he passed 
I’m glad my dog is as stubborn as I am 
My doctor told me that during a clinic visit for something or other ca. 1998. I was 17. I have no idea how the conversation brought that little gem up.
Dunno if this counts…
I went back to school in 2011 and earned 2 AA degrees and and a BA by 2016. Soon after graduation I got a job as a teacher in a boarding school, teaching reading and literacy for the GED while I worked on my MA.
At a summer BBQ my in-laws were throwing one of my FIL’s cousins started giving me advice on how to mow a lawn, trim trees, weed a flower bed, and the like. I politely listened for a few minutes and then told him I appreciated his advice, but we didn’t have much of a yard in our new rental so would file his wisdom away until such time I could make use of it. He looked at me blankly and then told me that I really should take his advice if I ever wanted a promotion.
Naturally, I found that was a good time to go refill my plate and find someone else to talk to, because I had no idea what the hell he was on about.
Well, it turns out that he thought I had gotten a job at the school as a groundskeeper. He thought this because that was what someone told him. That someone thought that because nobody, but nobody in my wife’s family save for my wife herself, had ever gone to college. It was inconceivable to them that I was a teacher. Even after my FIL corrected them he got a bunch of “well, will wonders never cease?” and “takes all kinds, I guess” and – my personal favorite – y’all gonna act like ivy tower liberals now?" comments.
Condescending as fuck.
No, I’m pointing out that your defense of her goodness as a “church goer” doesn’t hold up in real life.
Reminds me of when my sister-in-law told me that if I moved down to Virginia to work for her at Hardee’s where she was manager she could get me a good job making $7.50 an hour (that 25¢ above minimum wage). I was baffled. My husband burst out laughing and said “She’s making $25 an hour right now, why would she do that?”
Not that I would have anyway, SiL is not the sort you’d want to have any sort of power over you. Some years later she wound up wanted by the cops because she’d been using the workers under her to pass drugs to customers through the drive-through. So the peons would get busted/arrested for drug dealing instead of her.
Yet another reason I am glad the in-laws live far away and why I have nothing to do with them.
A good idea, but I like my method better.
After many years passed, I found out which “gated community” my former tormentor resided in and noted the location for my next vacation. With a little planning, I was able to watch through my airplane window as we circled over the walls, wire and guard towers. Then I glanced at my gorgeous wife beside me, the cute kids asleep behind us, and keyed the microphone. Telling air traffic control we were resuming course for the beach, I reengaged the autopilot and my plane dutifully sped us southward for another weekend of sun, sand and margaritas. As the prison disappeared behind, I said quietly: “How’s your weekend going, shithead?”
Success is the best revenge – by far.
“Art is a good hobby, but you’ll never make any money at it” - my family
I now make more money as an artist than they do in their respective fields, so clearly it was bad advice.
For a decade or so I worked retail management for a big box store and collected all kinds of accolades for performance metrics, sales numbers, store of the year, etc. Managed to do this while always dealing with plenty of clueless corporate initiatives from people who had zero experiences with reality.
So it really rubbed me the wrong way when I was later interviewing for a job at the corporate office and one of the two guys interviewing me started saying how the corporate environment would be really hard to adjust to since it was so much more demanding than what I was used to.
I never got that job but have since worked in the “corporate environment” for a couple companies for the past 20 years and it has been a cake walk compared to busting my ass on the front lines.
I have to say there’s a decided difference between telling someone their sweetheart may very well turn out looking liker her elderly mother in some years and telling someone their fiance is likey a whore.
Which cues my story. Around 1964, my neighborhood pal Ricky, a somewhat dimwitted 14 year old, was about to go out on his first date. His mother suggested that his Dad have a word or two of fatherly advice with their boy. She watched from the other room as Rick’s dad delivered his wisdom:
“Remember- don’t let your pecker be your guide.” That was his entire speech.
Ricky’s mom laughed as she told my mother, who laughed as she told me about it a few years later, and I’m grinning as I tell you.
Worst? “High school is gonna be the best time of your life.” Bullshit. It was hell.
Most condescending? Anytime someone finds out I’m single and says “don’t worry, you’ll find someone. It’s never too late!” Yeah, I’m not looking.
I’ve heard that about college. I kinda agree that it was the best time of my life, although I’d do it a lot differently in retrospect
Probably the people who told me I wouldn’t be able to live in Brooklyn for less than 80K/year. In the early nineties it wasn’t true; I lived on less than a third of that.