Learning From the Mistakes of Others

[tarawhipped]

Have you learned something the hard way? Do you wanna share your experience so others can learn from your mistakes? Sure ya do! This thread is for all those "oh my god if I'd only [blank] then [blankedy-blank] could have been averted...I must spread the word" moments.

The sitch: My parents just got back home after 2 weeks of holiday travel to find their house flooded and the ceiling over the dining and living rooms caved in. Turns out a water pipe broke and the water just kept on pouring down for days, ruining their wood floors, rugs, and the chandelier that crashed onto the dining room table (or as I like to call it now: the pile of really expensive kindling). They're living in a hotel for the next several months.

The lesson(s): 1. When going away for vacation, turn off the water main! My parents live in North Carolina; the pipe did not freeze and burst, so apparently it can happen anywhere. 2. Buy homeowner's/renter's insurance! Because my parents are a) old; b) smart; and c) did I mention old? they have kickass insurance that's covering all the damage and paying for their extended hotel stay.

-Cameron *scurries off to read homeowners' insurance policy*

Mods: If there's another thread like this, please move/delete/lock accordingly...thanks!

[watty]

ack!!! Thanks Cam, for the reminder. I have building and mortgagee insurance but no home content. Will need to get that asap.

For homeowners out there, and I know it's not something you want to think about, but ... get a will. since I don't have one (and I know I should), if anything happens to me, my estate goes to my parents. While that's a-ok by me, I realize that my gf gets nothing because she has no legal right to my assets. It doesn't matter for her, but ... sigh, I need to write a will.

Something happened to me recently, and consider it one of the mistakes that kittens can learn from. Back up your data. I saved all my writing in a flash drive, and said flash drive has decided to stop working. I'm having to send it to the manufacturer to see if they can extract the files. My fanfic are fine since I have them on my website, but I have some original writing, including my most recent nano effort saved on there. I hadn't had time to back it up and now I've lost a large portion of 50,000 words.

[br]

[Candleshoe]

Always carry spares of essential car parts - like bulbs, oil, gas and tyres.

And be able to fit them.

That would have saved me a long wait for the man in the yellow flashing van to bring the right tool to fit the fanbelt I held in my hand but couldn't get onto the car.....

[JustSkipIt]

I'd say a general "get details" for doing "favors." If someone asks if you can "look in" on their dog while on vacation, find out how long is vacation? how many time do you need to stop in? how long do you need to stay? Etc. in the same vein, find out how much you're getting paid for whatever you're doing before doing the work. If someone says, "I'll pay you ..." find out how much before you agree to do it.

[Candleshoe]

Double, and then treble, check e-mail addresses before hitting send.

And set it to spell-check before sending.

If you don't manage the above, then learn how to hack into your boss's e-mail account.

I'm told......*looks innocent*

[FineyMcFine]

Ha, I second that! Also be careful when using keyboard shortcuts - too often I try to hit ctrl-x or alt-tab and end up sending an incomplete e-mail to a large listserv or something. That's not quite as scandalous as what Candleshoe seems to be alleging, but anyway. (How about that legal lingo, eh?)

Also once I accidentally cut and pasted the wrong link to send to my boss. I was trying to send him the link to some website or other and ended up sending him a link to "What Cartoon Character Are You?"

[Candleshoe]

Out of interest, Sally, what cartoon character was your boss? Mine would be Elmer Fudd. With the shotgun.

[FineyMcFine]

Haha, he didn't take the test. He sent me a neutrally-worded email back that said "Sally, I don't think this is the right link."

However, I just took the test answering as I thought he would, and if I was right, he is Tweety. I guess I could see that. Then I took it, and I'm Tweety too. Hm. No wonder we got along so well.

[Candleshoe]

I wanna take it! I wanna take it! *jumps up and down like a 3 year old in a sweetie shop*. Start a thread - we all seem to be quiz-mad this week anyway...

[Candleshoe]

Seems like I'm the only one making "mistakes" here...

Lesson for today: don't buy a bloody, fucking, sodding Vauxhall Corsa. 'Scuse my language, but I've just been towed home, AGAIN.

On the bright side - I'm really getting my money's worth out of the breakdown service I'm signed up to!

[Candleshoe]

Talking to myself...

My 84 year old granny tells us (and inadvertently a restaurant full of people) today that she ate too many strawberries and has bad cystitis.

Lesson: don't let granny speak in public.

If she does: find a way to stop the giggles.

[Foomatic]

When picking up take-out, always check to make sure you have all the food you ordered so you don't have to make a second 30 minute trip back to the restaurant and get the food that by now has gotten cold.

[Guppy]

Don't allow all the utility bills to be in your name, cuz then your roommate moves out or decides to not pay and you get screwed with the whole deal. Plus they steal the equipment you have to return and you pay $200 for each piece three months later. Grrr.

[russ]

My 84 year old granny tells us (and inadvertently a restaurant full of people) today that she ate too many strawberries and has bad cystitis.

Lesson: don't let granny speak in public.

If she does: find a way to stop the giggles.

I'd take a different lesson from that: Look forward to the fact that when you're 84 you can say whatever you damn well please, and enjoy embarassing the young'uns. I remember my grandma saying such things, then the sly little grin she'd get watching the reaction.

Russ

[Candleshoe]

Too true, Russ!

Lesson for today: sell the crappy car the first time it breaks. It broke again tonight and I was very, very tempted to leave it in a car park with the doors unlocked. Anyone who could get it to start was welcome to it (after I'd removed the OMWF soundtrack from the stereo, of course!)

[Boschi]

When you are apologizing to someone, keep in mind what you want to say.... and what you don't want to say. Much more effective that way.

Doh.

- Boschi

[kindagay]

Don't stand a cup of tea (or any drink actually) next to your laptop, especially if the laptop & drink are sat on a non-stable surface that's likely to get knocked by your young niece.
I just spent the last hour & a half with a hair dryer held over my laptop praying that it'd actually work when I turned it back on - thankfully (& obviously) it did.

Hugs
Jeanne

[Candleshoe]

Don't stand a cup of tea (or any drink actually) next to your laptop

Good job it wasn't jelly and sponge, otherwise your laptop would be a trifle broken...*groan*

Topic:
1. Don't assume that, just because people are over the age of 25, they won't behave like they are under the age of 12.

2. Tell people what desk they have to sit at, don't let them "decide amongst themselves". They won't.

[Twisted Minstrel]

1. Don't assume that, just because people are over the age of 25, they won't behave like they are under the age of 12.

Very true, sadly.

[JustSkipIt]

If you cut up tabasco peppers for dinner, (or your wife does), wash your (or her) hands thoroughly and repeatedly before having sex. Nuff said?

Oh yeah: OUCH!

[Guppy]

Don't volunteer for large projects such as complete overhauls of the current system when you work with a bunch of smalltown women who can't stand change or see the big picture!!! If I had declined this responsibility I would have saved myself many hours of anger, frustration and LOTS of bar money!!

[kivrin]

justSkipit: was it really an experience? OUCH you've saved lots of relationships with that advice. let me say that it sounded a bit hilarious though...I won't try.

[Willowlover]

No matter how angry you get at someone dont take it out on a windowsill. After all the windowsill didnt do anything to you. Plus if you shatter a windowsill at an apartment the owners get kinda upset.

[Boschi]

Um. Yeah. Pre-coital hot peppers not such a great idea. Let me just back that up. Oddly enough, I think I gained direct experience with this the same day JustSkipIt posted that little jewel.
Huh - that has to be one of the odder moments of synchronicity ever.

Right. My point.

Point the first: Think very (very, very, very, etc ad nauseaum) carefully and at great length before agreeing to enter in to a business partnership with someone. Figure out what you want from the partnership and what you can give. Write it down. Have potential partner or associate do the same. Compare lists. Think more.
Clarify precisely how decisions are to be made, particularly regarding money. Precisely. Don't bloody agree to anything unless you are on the same g-damned page! Ahem.

Point the second: Don't feel trapped. Think about exit strategies (for you, for the partner, whatever), realize your strengths and remember that the point of the business is the business, not the partnership. Chase your goals, chase profit, chase whatever the business is set up to chase. If you find yourself instead chasing your partner's moods, errors or differing opinions then ask yourself if the business can survive the partnership...

Really one could substitute the word "endeavor" for "business" here - my point is not hard nosed money making.

[Darcy]

I've always been fond of the advice I read in a computer magazine many years ago. They had asked readers to 'fess up about stupid things they'd done and offer advice for for avoiding similar mistakes. The most memorable advice:

When the computer asks "Are you sure?" .... ponder a moment.

[NewRuthRising]

Stolen from a keyring: never pretend to be a wheelie bin (Dumpster) on the first date.

[JustSkipIt]

Um. Yeah. Pre-coital hot peppers not such a great idea. Let me just back that up. Oddly enough, I think I gained direct experience with this the same day JustSkipIt posted that little jewel.
Huh - that has to be one of the odder moments of synchronicity ever.

Definitely wierd and given what I know about it: sorry and ouch!

[NewRuthRising]

NEVER touch sensitive teeth with a paperclip. Never. Never ever ever.

[Emms]

1. Let the battery die on your laptop every so often. (Thanks B and Gemella for that bit of wisdom)

2. Flip the couch cushions once a week

3. every time you dust your computer desk, turn your keyboard upside down and shake out all the crumbs and crap that's accumulated there.

xoxo
Emms

[NewRuthRising]

Don't blow your nose when having a nosebleed.