When we come to people in our lives – parents, friends, siblings, mentors – and ask for advice, we obviously assume two things: first, that they know what they’re talking about and second, that they won’t want to steer us wrong.

These 15 people, though, had the opposite experience – instead of help, they received these truly awful pieces of advice.

15. It actually does matter.

“Just get a degree. It doesn’t matter which one.”

$40,000 and one unused degree later….

14. Do you have a bubble shovel?

If you run out of dishwasher detergent, just substitute it with regular dish soap.

A big mistake that will only be made once. 😡

13. Thanks, Grandma.

My grandmother told me that if I wanted to stop being poor, I should find a job in logistics or warehousing.

I was literally managing a warehouse at the time.

12. Not the best source.

“All you have to do is prove to the woman that you are better than the man she is with and she will come running.”

From a former manager who had seven girlfriends, and a wife (who stabbed him when she learned about the girlfriends).

11. College isn’t for everyone.

My friend out of high school got a job at Ford starting at $28/hour full time and in the UAW. His mom said he shouldn’t waste his life working “at a factory” and go to collage despite him having a 1.8 GPA in Highschool and very good with working with his hands.

He quit, took 2 classes at college and dropped out. He spent the next 8 years making pizza because the job market was trash.

10. That advice is the worst.

To keep my mouth shut. Never argue or talk back to my partner.

9. Sometimes you’ve got to walk away.

“Winners never quit.” I think that is horrible advice. Calculated quitting is how you progress in life.

If I never quit I would be stuck in bad situations.

8. Saute yourself!

“Put some butter on it” -My father to me directly after getting a 3rd degree burn on my arm (cooking accident).

7. High school isn’t awesome for everyone.

“enjoy your life when you’re in school, it’s going downhill from there”

don’t ever say that to a depressed teenager. as an adult my life is sooooo much better

6. Well that didn’t happen.

“Don’t study computer science all the programming will be done in India in 5 years”

Literally everyone in my family in 2006. They pushed me hard for accounting but I found a compromise in an IT degree (information systems). I found my way back to software development quickly though.

It’s not as bad now but in 2010 you’d get your resume thrown in the trash at a lot of places if you applied to a programming job without a CS or engineering degree.

5. It’s not one-size fits all.

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PeterAhlstrom
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12d
“A mobile home is a great first home for a young couple.”

I wish I had looked into it more. When my company imploded, I was stuck with a $1000 mortgage payment AND $1100 monthly space rent. In the Los Angeles area. I got a job out of state. Could not sell the mobile home—park residents were giving up their old paid-off homes just to get out of their leases, and the park was selling the houses for $500. (That is an exact figure.) So no one wanted a brand-new house in the same park.

I had to just give up the house to the bank. Bank eventually sold it for less than half of the loan balance. My credit recovered 7–10 years later.

4. Don’t say this to your kid.

Ignore the bullies. They just want a reaction. If you ignore them they’ll get bored and leave you alone.

This is my answer every time this question pops up. It is such unmitigated bullshit! The adults who gave me this advice (when I was a kid, in the 70s) must have had softer bullies than I did. Because yeah, my bullies wanted a reaction. And they’d keep going until they got one.

3. Also don’t say this.

When I was being relentlessly bullied in grade school, my parent’s advice was “Just laugh it off. Show them you don’t take them seriously and they’ll leave you alone.”

A) You can’t laugh at someone who’s emotionally and physically abusing you.

B) If you don’t take them seriously, they will escalate until you do.

Worst. Advice. Ever.

2. If that ain’t the truth.

“Follow your heart”

Sometimes my heart is stupid and I should listen to my brain instead.

My heart is telling me to eat 7 cakes, play videogames instead of go to school, and sleep 16 hours a day. Follow your brain.

1. I mean…

Lawyer said I should just admit that I did it.

I denied it and the case was dismissed.

Y’all, I cannot with some of these.

What piece of advice would you add to this list? We want to hear it down in the comments!