This week in a viral thread, redditor u/sofsbear asked, "What was the worst advice you have ever received?" and people came through with some absolutely atrocious advice.
So with that in mind, here are just a few people who 100% shouldn't have an advice column:
1. "In my early 20s my stepdad encouraged us (my sister, my brother, and I) to 'max out our credit cards, then file bankruptcy.' My sister did it. My brother did it. I didn't. He's insulted me for years for 'being stupid.'"
2. "'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!' This was from a former manager who had seven girlfriends AND a wife (who stabbed him when she learned about the seven girlfriends)."
3. "When you’re a chronic pain patient and get told constantly: 'Do some yoga and it’ll be okay!'"
4. "'Ignore the bullies. They just want a reaction. If you ignore them they'll get bored and leave you alone!' 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."
5. "'Invest in DVDs because you can pawn them for cash when you need money.'"
6. "From my father: 'Don’t go to the doctor’s office if you only have one problem. Wait until you have four or five; that’s how you get the most bang for your buck.'"
7. "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."
8. "Not me, but I remember reading about a man who told his girlfriend every day that she 'stunk.' She washed two or three times daily, tried everything she could to get rid of this smell. Until one day when she cracked and started screaming at him asking WTF was he smelling. Apparently, his father told him: 'Tell a woman she smells every day, and she'll be constantly clean.' He just took that as normal, good advice to live by."
9. "A lawyer said I should 'just admit that I did it.' I denied it and the case was dismissed."
10. "'If you go work somewhere else, no one will pay you as much as me!' My dad told me this. I'm currently making twice as much plus benefits."
11. "Out of high school, my friend got a job at Ford starting at $28 an hour full time and in the UAW. His mom said he 'shouldn't waste his life working at a factory and should go to college' despite him having a 1.8 GPA in high school and being very good working with his hands. He quit, took two classes at college, and dropped out. He spent the next eight years making pizzas because the job market was trash."
12. "Enjoy your life while you're in school. It's all downhill from there!' Don't EVER say this to a depressed teenager. As an adult, my life is SO much better."
13. "'Winners never quit.' I think that's horrible advice. Calculated quitting is how you progress in life. If I never quit, I would be stuck in bad situations."
14. "'If you run out of dishwashing detergent, just substitute it with regular dish soap!' A big mistake that you will only make once."
15. "'Take care of everyone else’s needs before your own, that way you’re never being selfish.' I find that to be a very manipulative form of advice. I take care of myself first, then everyone else."
16. "'You don't want to burn bridges.' Fuck that. Some of those bridges need to be bombed so they are never, NEVER able to be crossed again by either party."
17. "'Family over friends, because friends won't always be there for you, family will.' What a load of crap that is."
18. "'Follow your heart!' Sometimes my heart is stupid and I should listen to my brain instead."
19. "'The more responsibility you take on, the more the company you work for will see how much of an asset you are!' I got passed up for a position for someone who did the bare minimum, but kissed more ass than I did, then proceeded to get laid off three weeks later."
20. "'Walk in and hand them your resume!' Yeah, no. Unsurprisingly, that's never worked. All the jobs I've had over the years I got by applying online. Granted, some places do still have 'Inquire within!' signs on their storefronts, but most places want people to apply online these days, so walking in with a resume just shows you can't follow instructions."
21. And finally: "'Good things come to those who wait!' No, good things come to those who go out and take them."
Now it's your turn! What's the single worst piece of advice you've ever received? Share yours in the comments below! Help someone else out!
Some responses were edited for length and/or clarity. H/T: Reddit.