Rules of Thumb

It is human nature to deny things, and to minimize the extent of any bad habits that we have, to minimize any possible embarrassment to ourselves.

When I was in medical school, I learned things such as this:

"Whatever patients tell you they drink (i.e. 'I drink 2 beers a week'), multiply it by five."

"However little a patient says that they smoke, if they smoke at all, rounds up to one pack a day."


To explain that second one... "pack-years" in medical parlance = number of packs of cigs smoked per day (on average) times the number of years smoked. So for example if you smoked two packs a day for 30 years, you'd be a 60 pack-year smoker. By the rule of thumb above, if someone tells you they've smoked for ten years, but they only have one cigarette a day, or 3-4 cigs/day, they are a ten pack-year smoker, end of story.

Any rules of thumb taught to you to use in your dealings with others?

When someone wants to act like they're better than you, picture them on the can with a six-foot turd workin'.

That has saved my ass many, many times.

slept with one more person than you have. ;)

And exaggeration goes both ways - those who say they have sex alot and those who say they don't at all. I rarely believe either.