The half-life of advice

Not long after I started driving as a teenager, my older brother gave me some advice.

If you ever get pulled over by a cop, he said, take your driver’s license and registration to the officer before he ever gets out of his car.

Apparently that had worked for him.

So I tried it. And the first time or two, it actually seemed to help turn the traffic stop in my favor.

But then came a day when I was getting out of my vehicle and the cop, already having emerged from his patrol car, practically freaked. He ordered me to get the hell back in my car. I understood, and I have never done it again.

(By the way, we’re talking about a grand total of maybe eight or nine stops in more than 40 years of driving. So it’s not a huge sample.)

But here’s my question.

Did you ever get some advice that seemed wise at first but then proved to be unreliable? .