Bad Advice

What bad advice have you heard lately?

I’m running out of ideas…so it’s time for some more reader contributions! What advice have you heard that was just ridiculous? (It doesn’t even have to be personal - could be something you read/overheard/saw on tv/etc.)

Submit here: http://badadviceblog.tumblr.com/submit

And…

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Now seeking…

reader submissions! Come on, you know that you have lots of bad advice to share with everyone on the internet:) And, it’s anonymous;)

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Time machine

You know what kind of advice is literally impossible to follow? Advice on things that already happened! As in, “12 years ago, why didn’t you…[fill in the blank]?” Umm, I don’t even remember anymore! But how about I start up the old time machine, and go do whatever it is you want me to?

On your mark…

What’s up with those people who insist on competing with you about how fast you can get to a particular destination? As in, “how long does it take you to get downtown? I can get there in 15 minutes!” This isn’t the Amazing Race here! There’s no Travelocity gnome waiting for you!

You should [anything, as long as it is something in which you have zero interest]

The following happens to me every so often: I say I want to see/read/listen to ABC and, without any sort of acknowledgment of my wishes, in return I hear “you should see/read/listen to XYZ.”  Perhaps XYZ really is worthy of my attention, but I’ll stick to my ABC, thank you very much, since you have told me nothing about it (besides instructing me that I should see/read/listen to it).  Also, it’s just plain rude to just disregard my wishes like that and plugging your own instead.

Update

Bad advice blog is now set up to accept comments on the blog! Comment on your favorite posts anytime:)

Solicited and still bad!

Part of what makes bad advice so bad, in my opinion, is its always surprising and unsolicited appearance.  People always seem to have something handy for you when you could not care any less.  However, when you do ask, sometimes they come up with something equally unhelpful and just plain irritating.  I recently heard the following answer to my question of what I should do about XYZ: “You’ll figure it out.”  Thank you!  That was so helpful!  For once I actually asked for your opinion and that’s the best you could do?

Feelings

How about this for advice that’s impossible to follow:

“You should be so happy/proud/grateful/etc.”

Thanks for telling me how to feel! I’ll be sure to get right on that now!

I just want to feel how I feel…

Prepare…

I read an article somewhere (too lazy to find it) that suggested the following: if you are not currently in a relationship, you should spend time reading articles about relationship issues to prepare for when you do meet someone. This is seriously the worst piece of advice I’ve ever heard. Let me get this straight - spend your free time getting stressed out about issues/problems that you may or may not encounter in the future? Yeah, that sounds like a good way to spend a day off! Umm…you can’t always prepare for everything. Sometime you just have to live, you know?

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?

Bad Advice Blog is seeking reader submissions! Click here (and scroll down) to submit: http://badadviceblog.tumblr.com/submit. All submissions are anonymous, unless you want to sign your name at the bottom of the post.

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City vs. suburbs

Ok, so we all know someone who constantly tries to engage us in that tired old city vs. suburbs debate. For some reason, lots of people feel the need to “recruit” others to their “team.” News flash - there are no teams here! Suburb-pushers, leave us city people alone. We don’t NEED to move (no, not even for “the kids”…which we don’t have…I love the argument that kids need “lots of land”…are they cows??) Not EVERYONE can live in the suburbs, because…that would empty out the cities and render this whole argument moot. And then what would we all talk about?

Send good wishes unto others

Sometimes you get advice that makes you wonder if the person giving it is even listening to you.  Once, when I was upset about something, I was told to immediately sit in cross-legged position, light candles all around me, and start chanting, sending good wishes unto those in my immediate surroundings, increasing the radius with each chant.  While ordinarily I’m all for radiating good energy, but, call me cold-hearted, when I’m upset, I hardly have the will or the desire to meditate. 

Get Married!

I once heard this advice given to a friend: “If you are fighting so much with your girlfriend, you should get married!  That way, when you fight, you won’t be able to just get up and leave.”  Wait, what??  Shouldn’t they break up and cut their losses instead of legally binding themselves together?  This advice is as sound as “if your marriage is in trouble, have a baby.”  I think I now know why the divorce rate is so high in this country…

Work for the Government

My friend and I repeatedly hear this meaningless advice—“why don’t you just work for the government?”  In what capacity, pray tell?  Should I start with a Mayoral post or should I go straight for the Presidential one?  It’s not like the government just takes in unemployed people indiscriminately and creates jobs for them.  I always thought that, just like with any other employer, there should first be an appropriate position open, there should be job interviews held, your skill set should match certain criteria etc.  Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I can just show up at one government agency or another and say “hey, I was told that I can always just work for the government” and expect to be set up with fabulous benefits and a well paid 9-5.  Is this really rocket science?