What's an adult problem nobody prepared you for?

[Lotus-eater]

7 hours ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

Time Management... And the Option to hire people to help with basic activities. 

My parents rarely hired anyone for routine maintenance around the house; they did everything themselves.   But I came to realize that I could perform better if I hired people to perform my basic routine tasks at less than half the price of my time: Weekly housekeeper, monthly landscaper, monthly pest control, etc.  They get the job done faster and better than I could do it myself, and it frees up my time to work overtime or to relax.

So you're saying that outsourcing these tasks to outsiders is a good thing? You know that means you're running a trade deficit with everyone you buy these services from (assuming they don't buy anything directly from you).

[mike carey]

10 minutes ago, Lotus-eater said:

So you're saying that outsourcing these tasks to outsiders is a good thing? You know that means you're running a trade deficit with everyone you buy these services from (assuming they don't buy anything directly from you).

You say that as if trade deficits are a bad thing, and that a deficit with one partner can's be offset by a surplus with another.

[Lotus-eater]

13 minutes ago, mike carey said:

You say that as if trade deficits are a bad thing, and that a deficit with one partner can's be offset by a surplus with another.

I don't personally, but some people think that running trade deficits is a bad thing and that outsourcing should be discouraged.

[+ purplekow]

No one prepared me for how difficult it is to direct a urinary stream as you get older. In the house I just sold, I had a urinal and that made for an easy and clean urination.  I miss that urinal about as much as I miss the bowl these days.  

[mtaabq]

1 hour ago, purplekow said:

No one prepared me for how difficult it is to direct a urinary stream as you get older. In the house I just sold, I had a urinal and that made for an easy and clean urination.  I miss that urinal about as much as I miss the bowl these days.  

PREACH! 

[wsc]

7 hours ago, purplekow said:

No one prepared me for how difficult it is to direct a urinary stream as you get older. In the house I just sold, I had a urinal and that made for an easy and clean urination.  I miss that urinal about as much as I miss the bowl these days.  

A urinary what?

[MscleLovr]

On 11/8/2025 at 4:12 PM, cougar said:

Randomly getting laid off from a job that I was excelling in and finding yourself to have too much experience and too old and costs too much for the current job market...

 

On 11/9/2025 at 3:58 PM, sniper said:

people need to realize just how common this is. Especially white collar workers whose expertise is mainly navigating their own company's systems….seem completely unrealistic…on the subject of what they can expect to make

This really resonated with me. Currently I have a friend in his 40s (expert corporate lawyer) being made redundant by a very profitable multinational. 

 

On 11/9/2025 at 3:58 PM, sniper said:

many people PLAN to "catch up" on saving in their 50s and 60s, or "just work till they drop" and think their earning power will never go down….a recipe for disaster.

This too resonated. I have a good friend in his mid-60s who doesn’t save and doesn’t realise how financially reckless he is. I’m very concerned for him but he rejects advice.

[+ Drew Collins]

On 8/29/2025 at 5:03 AM, purplekow said:

How to say "no" nicely and forcefully.  

For my own personal growth, learning/understanding/internalizing that....."No."....is a complete sentence.

[caramelsub]

This may sound silly, but the importance of a regular oil change. I started driving when I was 17, and love to drive. But I wasn’t knowledgeable on the mechanical elements of cars or the maintenance of owning one, when I was younger. That being said, neither of my parents taught me to get regular oil changes. It wasn’t until my engine knocked when I was driving that I then realized I needed to change the oil twice or three times a year. 

[wsc]

23 minutes ago, caramelsub said:

This may sound silly, but the importance of a regular oil change. I started driving when I was 17, and love to drive. But I wasn’t knowledgeable on the mechanical elements of cars or the maintenance of owning one, when I was younger. That being said, neither of my parents taught me to get regular oil changes. It wasn’t until my engine knocked when I was driving that I then realized I needed to change the oil twice or three times a year. 

After enlisting in the Navy, I had to take a number of aptitude tests to help determine the programs I should be placed in. I'm pretty sure I failed the mechanical aptitude test since I couldn't tell the difference between a monkey wrench and an actual monkey. It should, then, come as no surprise that I initially thought the car's oil light came on when it was time to change the oil. And, in a way, I was right.

[+ friendofsheila]

nosy strangers asking me something too personal. 

 

I finally learned that i don't have to answer.

[+ Drew Collins]

How more quickly time both seems to pass, and does actually pass, the older one gets....

52 here.  And I swear I was just squinting in the early morning sun after leaving a night at The Limelight a handful of years ago. 

OK at the most, 10 years ago.

(In reality, 30+.)

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

5 hours ago, Drew Collins said:

How more quickly time both seems to pass, and does actually pass, the older one gets....

52 here.  And I swear I was just squinting in the early morning sun after leaving a night at The Limelight a handful of years ago. 

OK at the most, 10 years ago.

(In reality, 30+.)

Life is like a roll of toilet paper 🧻.

The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.

[+ Just Chuck]

Getting physically shorter,

At the end of high school, the doctor’s office measured me at 5’11”.

Through most of my adult years I was 5’10”. 

Now, I am afraid to measure myself but I think I am 5’9”.

[+ PhileasFogg]

Stupid adults

[wsc]

5 hours ago, Just Chuck said:

Getting physically shorter,

At the end of high school, the doctor’s office measured me at 5’11”.

Through most of my adult years I was 5’10”. 

Now, I am afraid to measure myself but I think I am 5’9”.

Yes! This is why old men wear their pants up to the middle of their chests. Otherwise, the cuffs get stepped on and tattered.

We learn nothing so well, nor make it our own, as when we have discovered it for ourselves.  - Rene Descartes

[wsc]

On 11/20/2025 at 10:04 PM, friendofsheila said:

nosy strangers asking me something too personal. 

 

I finally learned that i don't have to answer.

At stages of my life the question "Are you gay?" elicited different reactions from me. At first, the very thought of the question somewhat terrified me. Later on, it annoyed me that someone would, as I saw it, be so nosey and invasive. Now I've come to believe that the only people who ask the question are the ones who think they already know the answer, and that my answer doesn't really matter.

If I say "Yes," they react with, "Aha! I knew it!" And if I say "No," I hear, "Fine, fine, don't tell me!" So now I just smile and walk away. [Unless he's cute, of course. And is holding nipple clamps. Then it's different.}

[+ Charlie]

1 hour ago, wsc said:

At stages of my life the question "Are you gay?" elicited different reactions from me. At first, the very thought of the question somewhat terrified me. Later on, it annoyed me that someone would, as I saw it, be so nosey and invasive. Now I've come to believe that the only people who ask the question are the ones who think they already know the answer, and that my answer doesn't really matter.

If I say "Yes," they react with, "Aha! I knew it!" And if I say "No," I hear, "Fine, fine, don't tell me!" So now I just smile and walk away. [Unless he's cute, of course. And is holding nipple clamps. Then it's different.}

When I was young, the only persons who would have asked me, "Are you gay?" would have been people who were actively gay themselves. because straight people didn't know what it meant. The first time someone asked me that, I said "Yes," because I thought he wanted to know how I felt about going home with him.