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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's specific to the DMV area. In the area, people always want to be viewed as very smart and knowledgeable about things, and they show off everything they know by saying every single thing they know about any topic brought up, unless they also have a competitive streak and want to gatekeep the info they know.

If you moved outside of the area you would get a different response.[/quote]

This. And there's a specific thing I have not encountered elsewhere where people here will adopt an air of "expertise" around something because they dealt with it one time or read like a single article on it once. Or listened to a podcast. It's exhausting.

So people here will give you advice on EVERYTHING from what stroller to buy to where to send your kid to school to what your kids should eat to whether you should stay in your job or get a more flexible job or whatever. And they will speak about it with authority like they are some kind of stroller expert or have 20 years experience advising women on work-life balance or whatever. Like sometimes you'll pause and wonder to yourself "is this person actually a well known expert on this subject -- they are so certain." But no they are not. They read a wirecutter article or like their sister got a WFH job and seems happy and that is the sum total of their expertise.

But once you figure these people out it's very easy to deal with them. You just ask them pointed questions and then undermine their authority:

"I see so you've flown AirFrance with that specific stroller then? No? We need it specifically for an upcoming trip. Well I will just compare the specs myself then. Thanks for trying tho."

"So your kids are still in PK? Oh too bad -- I really want to talk to someone who knows the 3rd grade staff really well. But thanks so much for providing some insight into how the school is perceived by outsiders. That's useful too."

"Wait are you a nutritionist? No? That's too bad -- I have been looking to speak to an expert about DD's picky eating because there is just so much bad info out there. If you know of someone with a good reputation in this area do let me know though."

And so on. Eventually they will learn to stop "advising" you because you don't suffer fools. They will find gullible hangers on who will eat up their authoritative takes based on studying TikTok posts or whatever and leave you alone.[/quote]

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