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? .