Unsolicited Advice

Category: Serendipity | Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 1:58 pm

We all get advice that we didn't ask for, nor do we want. Lately inanimate objects have been giving me advice, and I don't like it!
I bought a package of paper towels. When I put the first roll on the hangar, the paper towels advised me to "Smile!", "Play", and "Believe". I "believe" I'll buy a different brand next time.
Plastic shopping bags have a smiley face on them and the admonition "Have a nice day!" How heartfelt, how warm and fuzzy, to have a plastic bag telling you what kind of day to have.
Then there are the health/safety warnings. One of my favorites is the Texas' Department of Public Safety telling drivers if they are in a flooded area, "Move to higher ground." If you need to be advised to move to higher ground, you probably won't be around much longer anyway. That piece of advice is right up there with "Do not poke a rattlesnake with a sharp stick." That bit of advice was posted at a park. So, rattlers don't mind dull sticks? How about fingers?
Then there is the advice you get from complete strangers. "You really ought to get a big tractor." We were looking at lawn tractors, and some guy in overalls (he wasn't one of the store employees, just a too-interested by-stander) told us we needed not a nice $4,000 lawn tractor with a tow-behind cart, but a $40,000 John Deere tractor that came with steps so you could crawl up into the cab. Hey mister, we only have nine and a half acres. That tractor needs more room than that to turn around!
Grocery stores are a hot-bed of advice. A very large lady (to put it mildly) advised me to get some pseudo-cheese "'cause it melts real good on Fritos." Oh, yummy, and here I was going to waste my money on Brie. People seem to have an inordinate interest in what brand of pet food you are buying. I have been advised to "buy the cheapest, it's all the same anyway". Try telling that to our cat! She knows, believe me, she knows the difference. One gentleman told me not to buy the wet cat food in a can, but to get the dry in a bag because it keeps longer. Keeping cat food is not a problem at our houseâ€”keeping it stocked is.
So, take my advice and don't listen to unsolicited, unwanted, and unneeded advice from strangers. If you need any advice, just ask me.

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Comments

Donna S wrote on Tue May 27, 2014 3:08 pm:

Made me laugh again. Any advice for that?

eileen wrote on Tue May 27, 2014 3:27 pm:

Jane I was nodding and laughing when I read through your blog entry. I know who'll I'll ask for advice when I need it and it WILL be you!!

Henry Johnson wrote on Tue May 27, 2014 8:09 pm:

I was reading along through your blog post, nodding in agreement, smiling, and chuckling until your closing lines which caused me to 'just cackle right out' my Mom whould have said.. Hank