What's the best piece of advice you've received on Fluther?

Someone early on advised me to keep count of the best advise I got. I should have listened.

There have just been too many gems to sort among them and pick the most brilliant.

“palmite religiosi principes, et politici. deinde nos pacem habebitis.” @DarkScribe (RIP)

@ETpro , oh crap, did I miss something? Did @DarkScribe ‘s cancer come back?

Wow, I remember DarkScribe. I haven’t seen him for awhile. Now I know why, and I guess it did come back. :-o

It wasn’t so much a piece of advice, as it was something meaningful.. and although I remember who said it,I’m not even sure how the naming names rule works around here, so I won’t say who it was. She said something to the effect of “a bright smile is more attractive than any hairdo.” I loved that so much, because it’s really true.

It was the fact that there were people out there willing to help me, to give a word of comfort and advice, that was the best “advice”. It has restored my faith in humanity, at a time when I had none.

GQ

Two years ago I asked for advice on purchasing my first mens’ suit and I got lots of great advice there. I did eventually find a reasonably-priced store in town with some expert sales staff who found me a suit that fits perfectly and didn’t need alterations. And it was under £60.

Such a thing is yet to happen or is ever likely to, advice is not what I seek/want/need.

@DigitalBlue I believe that was Sunny2.

Oh sorry, just re-read your post and realized that you do know who said it.

@FutureMemory correct. :)

The entire Milo saga. Without the advice I received here, I would be living in the woods and eating mice. He would be signing checks and ordering stuff from Amazon and Ikea.

Well, it’s not advice per se, but I’ve had friendships that originated on Fluther that transformed me, so there’s that.

To press the # key to jet past all the answering prompting blah blah to get to the “tone”.

The best advise ever and the most timely was so simple!!! It was in a PM.
It said “Don’t turn back. Just move forward.”
can’t say who it was but I so appreciate that to this day!

It hasn’t the advice so much; it has been all the empathy.

Not advice but I had a most remarkable act of kindness poured out to me.

Thanks for the remembered reference. I remember the day I realized the truth of the statement I made. Many women are self conscious about how they look, including me. My department had visitors one day and I thought my hair looked its absolute worst. But I managed to be friendly and got a wholeheartedly warm response. How you look is NOT the most important thing about you.

I was told that I shouldn’t brush my teeth with rocks. Now I wonder who could have said that…

I’ve obtained some good advice about my drinking issues, as well as great support from a few jellerites. It’s something I can really appreciate, and it kind of brightens your day a little.

if the rocks are incredibly small they will whiten your smile….a little bit

Steering me toward listening for whether the compressor was cycling on my malfunctioning AC unit got me moving toward a replacement much sooner. Instead of sweltering for several days, it was mercifully only one.

All of the techy computer stuff from all of the competent jellies (you know who you are) has helped a technotard like me immensely :)

Blushing with honor. ;-p

@Brian1946 Please excuse me if I don’t immediately call the Nobel Prize committee, Albert Schweitzer Einstein. ~

@Incoherency_ Nice- is that a baby picture of Eddy Haskell in your avatard? ;-p

I know this is not a question asking for tips, but I have to give one: When traveling, if you need a bathroom, why go to a fast food place or a gas station when you could go to a nice restroom in a hotel? Stop at a Crowne Plaza, or a Courtyard, or a Doubletree, and use their bathrooms. So much nicer, quieter, cleaner.

^^ That may qualify as the best advice I’ve received here!

@augustlan: All of these hotels have restrooms in their lobbies, well maintained. Some hotels even have coffee and/or tea in the lobby, although I don’t usually partake of that! Hell, while you’re there, you can chill in the lounge/lobby area for a while and watch some TV or read a paper!

@jca Hotel restrooms, lobbies, beverages and newspapers are for guests and their guests. I equate utilizing these complimentary services without being a guest as stealing. How would it feel if I entered your home and used your bathroom, drank your coffee, read your newspaper and watched your television without being invited?

By doing this, it increases costs. It lowers the bottom line revenue, and trust me, it takes a long time for a hotel owner to make a profit. Additionally, it creates more work for employees that aren’t paid to service non-guests. Please…reconsider this being a good tip. On behalf of every hotel employee and owner, it isn’t.

@Pied_Pfeffer: How is using a hotel bathroom any different than stopping at a gas station solely to use their restroom, or stopping at a fast food place like McDonalds solely to use theirs?

For the record, I don’t stop and sit and read the papers or drink the coffee when I stop at a hotel bathroom, but I see they have it out and it must benefit them in some way if they do without asking who’s who. Perhaps it leaves a nice “taste in the mouth” of people who come in and do?

It doesn’t compare to entering my home and using my bathroom and drinking my coffee because my home is not open to the public, as a hotel lobby is. If it were a real cost to the hotel, they’d post a sign saying “bathrooms for hotel guests only.” I’m also sure that if I entered a hotel lobby (of a large chain such as Doubletree) and asked to use their bathroom, the desk staff would say yes.

@jca Using any other establishment out to make money and offering restroom facilities is no different than selecting a hotel for that sole purpose. This is why, at least in the US, rest stops were invented. Maybe I am in the minority here, but I only use the facilities at service establishments if I buy something there.

As for how the complimentary beverage service and newspapers benefit the paying customers is that they are not nickel and dimed for every expense. Based upon customer feedback, and from my own experience, it is a pain to fill out an expense report. Some companies won’t allow these expenses. Thus, hotels have learned to build them into the cost of the room rate. That means that the customer has already paid for those benefits, but it’s less work for them and for their company.

And yes, as a former desk clerk, if you asked me if you could use the restroom, I would say yes. Still, it is a real cost to the hotel. It includes free toilet paper, water, soap and towels, plus the expense of cleaning up. What does that hotel get in return? I also wouldn’t grill every person that walked through the lobby and took a newspaper or a cup of coffee or used the public restroom. I would assume that they were a guest.

When I worked at Embassy Suites, we would occasionally have people come up and say, “I just ate at your breakfast buffet and couldn’t find someone to pay.” They weren’t guests. Since there was no charge to guests for the breakfast (it was included in the suite rate), we would just wave them off with a “Free on us!” It might have generated some free marketing, but what we found is that a few locals became abusers.

The reason you don’t see signs at the entrance of some hotels is because standards have been written prohibiting it. If these hotels are inspected and found in violation, it deducts points from their rating. Standards are written by corporate employees who have, a.) never worked in a hotel, or b.) forgotten what it is like to work in one. While the goal is to prevent a negative message, and let’s face it, they do, it can be frustrating for the hotel employees that know non-guests are taking advantage of the facilities, not that a sign would stop everyone.

P.S. Doubletree is not a large hotel chain. It is part of the Hilton Family of Brands® and many are independently owned. This means that the owners are not funded by Hilton. They pay franchise fees to Hilton and need to adhere to the standards.

@Pied_Pfeffer: I’m sure it’s a pain to work in an establishment and see people coming in and using the facilities who you know did not stay there.

I don’t eat breakfast buffets in hotels I don’t stay at. In about 20 times that I have used restrooms at hotels I didn’t stay at in my life, I’m sure the expense has been minimal, therefore, my guilt is minimal. The majority of those times were at a local Doubletree, when I would be out in the field and needing a clean bathroom. I can say well, they have profited from me and my family in the 3 nights we had a storm and lost power, and paid $250 per night for two beds in one room because it was the last vacancy at the hotel, and they obviously took advantage of our neediness.

If someone sits in the lounge and watches TV for 15 minutes or reads a paper that’s already there, I see no added expense for that.

I’m sure the majority of people here in the US have used a fast food restaurant’s bathroom or a gas stations’ bathroom at one time or another and not bought anything necessarily on every occasion. I’m sure I’m not in the minority on this one.

@jca Friend, please. Those are rationalizations. If the local hotel gouged you in rate during an emergency, then shame on them. I would also like to know how you know that. Doubletree stays are not cheap.

I think that you are missing the bigger picture. By advocating the utilization of these “free” services and amenities, it generates more cost to hotel owners. A one-off is to be expected, be it intentional or not. When others listen to your advice, it becomes detrimental to a business.

At the time we called Doubletree, they told us we got the last room available in the hotel. If I look now at the rates on their site, they’re no more than 190, including breakfast. We paid $250, no breakfast (until I called and complained and threatened to call the 800 number).

Regardless, I think me using the bathroom in a hotel about 4 times a year presents a minimal cost to them. Again, I think I’m not the only person in the country who has used a hotel bathroom without being a guest, used a fast food or gas station bathroom without making a purchase. Also, as I said, not that I sit in the lobby and watch the TV or read the paper (who has time to do that?) but if I did, I probably wouldn’t be the first person in the nation to do so, either. I’m not saying go eat a free breakfast, I’m basically saying use the bathroom.

@jca I’m with you. Has anyone here ever been in need of a public restroom in NYC? Check it out.The best tips are based in real world experiences.

Don’t eat yellow snow.

@Symbeline : How have I missed Zappa on Fluther ???