All the really IMPORTANT stuff I need to know….I didn’t learn in kindergarten. I learned it on People’s Court and Judge Judy.
Seriously. I know, we’ve all read the sweet list from the book, “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum;
Share everything, play fair, don’t hit, clean up your own mess, don’t take things that aren’t yours, say you’re sorry, flush, (I may have to discuss that one with my son and the cat), take a nap every day, blah, blah, blah.
But the REAL life lessons, the ones that can spare you much misery, are learned from court shows.
First off, don’t turn up your nose at court shows - they really are educational. At least the two I watch.
Second, you may be asking how in the world I manage to watch them since they are daytime t.v….. we record them and watch them while eating lunch. Zapping through commercials I can get in quite the lesson in a short amount of time.
So here is MY list of real life lessons, according to Judge Milian and Judge Judy.
1. NEVER get a cell phone for someone else. Why is it that people purchase cell phones for someone who couldn’t get it on their own because they had bad credit? Does it not occur to them that they have bad credit and can’t get the phone because they don’t pay their bills? What makes them think they will suddenly be more responsible when it’s on someone else’s credit?
And what always happens, is not only did the person not pay the bill, but they ran the charges up because they called a zillion people and texted a zillion more.
2. If you are paying in cash, even if it’s to your best friend, your mother, the Pope, etc - GET A RECEIPT! If they won’t give you one, don’t hand over the cash! Especially if it’s the Pope.
3. Verbal agreements are stupid. Get things in writing. Duh!
4. Loaning money to friends and family is always a recipe for disaster. And co-signing for loans, especially car loans….same rule of thumb here as the cell phone - if they couldn’t get credit on their own, why let them ruin yours?
5. Oh - and when buying a car from a private sale - they are always “As Is”. Unless you have something in writing, there are no warranties. So if you drive 2 minutes down the road and it falls apart, you are out of luck. Lesson here? Get a mechanic to look at it before buying it. Believe it or not, we recently sold one of our high end cars from our business - won’t say which car or how much this person paid, but they did not have anyone look at the car first……the car was perfect but come on! When you are spending that kind of money it pays to be vigilant. Our course, if you’re buying a piece of shit you might really want the car checked out.
6. Don’t sign a lease with a deadbeat. Enough said.
7. If you’re not married, don’t co-mingle your funds. Doesn’t always work even when you ARE married……
8. Get a receipt! Oh, did I already mention that? Well it is worth repeating!
There are many more life lessons to be had and I encourage you to set your DVR or TIVO or whatever you use and start along the path of higher education. On her website, Judge Judy has some additional tips that may come in handy as well.
I’ve told my son that when he is older, if he EVER comes to me complaining how he got screwed over by someone I would just look at him and say, “And what do you want to me to do about it? Did you not learn anything from all those years watching Judge Judy? Well I did and you’re on your own!”.
Enough said 
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