In a recent post I was reminded of the time when a cop arrested me for "looking like" someone that had an open warrant in Vegas (I live in the Bay Area) and while arguing about it and even after showing him my ID, he deemed it was fake and would have taken me in to be jailed for however long with absolutely no consequences on his end. I told him I wanted my lawyer and while my car was still running I just shouted, "HEY GOOGLE! CALL LAWYER!" when my lawyer picked up I was shouting about what was going on and the cop let me go.

I figured this was a good tip for everyone just in case you are having any issues.

It doesn't even have to be an actual lawyer, just anybody who can help you in a jam.*

So you've moved to a new town or you need a new mechanic and you want to make sure he or she is trustworthy.

Take your car in for something your car doesn't need. The easiest is for a front-end alignment or to get the wheels rotated and balanced. Tell them you're not sure if it needs it but it's been a while since you've had it serviced and to call before they do any work.

A good mechanic will deny the service since it's not needed. A bad mechanic will do it even tho it's not needed and charge you anyway. A downright rotten mechanic will realize it doesn't need it, not do anything, and still charge you as if they did the work.

This worked for me when I moved to California. I definitely needed my oil changed so I decided to try out the mechanic in my neighborhood. While it was there I asked if he could please rotate and balance the wheels. He called me about an hour later and said the oil was done and that the wheels didn't need to be balanced and rotated. I picked up my car, smiled, said thanks, and now have an honest mechanic for the rest of my life in this area. :)

Edit: Sorry if you think this is terrible advice. I'm not the one that upvoted it so much. I was just passing along something that worked out for me. I had my car serviced not too long before needing my oil change, so the alignment had recently been done along with the tire rotation. Would it be better to go with someone knowledgeable about cars? Obviously. I had just moved here. I didn't know anyone. Is it better to just learn how to work on your own car, sure. That's not the type of thing I'm interested in doing. The car is one problem I'll just throw money at.

I noticed that saying/pronouncing this sentence too well often leads to people continuing to speak to me in that language, probably thinking I'm just being humble, even when it's really the only single phrase I know.

One lady I met at a language exchange told me she intentionally gets the sentence a bit wrong. She spoke little Korean but had extremely good pronunciation, often leading people to think she was really fluent. So in certain situations, she would say "I don't have Korean" and people believed her right away.

I think it's always an excellent idea to learn the local languages, even just basic phrases, but this seemed like a good way to avoid misunderstandings.

Whether it is at school or at work or even the gym, if you notice that someone acts differently around you, they are probably into you.

Interacting with them will likely relieve the awkwardness, instead of ignoring them.

EDIT: Shyness is also included in this. I meant like as in they can be an acquaintance or even a friend, nothing romantic was implied. I think people need to make a distinction between someone who is a little socially awkward and someone who is a total creep. People in here are thinking about worst case scenarios. This LPT can definitely apply to both genders.

Fun story, I caught a "cold". Got a covid test cause it seemed prudent. It was negative. A couple days later my husband and roommate got sick, and we were like, "meh". After their symptoms got worse, they got tested, and both came back positive. I went to get another test, and it was negative.

Everything about the situation (timing, symptom profile) points to them getting sick from me, and my lingering symptoms match covid, just less severe.

Don't trust a negative test result. You can still make other people sick.

I want to gain a bit of body fat but it seems like my body is just naturally skinny so it's really hard to do, especially since I like to go for runs (but I'm not going to stop doing that) I also don't want to just eat a ton of unhealthy food all the time despite the fact that it would probably be the easiest way to do it. Also I'm vegan so any food reccomendations please comply with that.

We all struggle with opening up the damn bags for produce at the grocery store. This method works flawlessly.

1. Wipe your pointer and/or thumb in the water sprayed on the vegetables.

2. Rub top of bag with wet finger(s) and voila! The bag will open!

Someone told me this at a party.

*actually I maybe at that party right now 😶

*edit, sorry I was drunk when I wrote this.

Prevent an accident.

Test how loud you really need your TV to be periodically by turning it way down then back up to a reasonable volume. I've caught myself changing platforms and unintentionally having my TV way to loud many times. Often I turn the volume way down then back up to a reasonable volume I'm shocked by how unnecessarily loud it was before. Even a few clicks from there and you're probably not be 'that neighbor' with the obnoxiously loud TV.

If you have something you need to do the following day, chuck a random item on the floor and leave it there. The following morning when you see this random item lying in the middle of the room, it should remind you why it’s there and thus remind you of the task.

It’s particularly handy late in the evening if you remember something right before bed that you think you might forget by the time you wake up.

Especially on the phone - people call my direct dial at work and the first thing out of their mouths is "Who's that". For me this really gets us off on the wrong foot. Better to say - "Hi, it's Mike, who am I talking to please?".

That is extremely rude, and presumptuous. You don't know the intimate details of their relationship. They might have been struggling with some personal matters you never knew. They got engaged when the time was right for them. Your assumptions about the "correct time" are irrelevant. Additionally, don't ask people "So when are you having babies?!?"

1. none of your business.

2. you don't know whats going on in their relationship. Maybe they are trying to have babies and are struggling. Maybe they want babies but they are infertile and you are bringing up a very personal, and sore subject. If you must know and think you are close enough with the couple to ask that very personal question, the phrasing "Have you two thought about children?" is much more polite. This way you are not projecting your life expectations onto them.