Why Are Humans So Immune To Good Advice?

Upon learning that I had previously lived in New York, a local young lady here in Boston asked,

YoungLady - I am planning a 'girls weekend' in Manhattan. Do you have any ideas for our trip?

CaptiousNut - First of all, park your car(s) in Connecticut and take the train in. You won't need them in the City. It's expensive to park. You'll get lost left and right...

And I gave her some more sage advice. One thing I had to disabuse was her fear that after seeing a show, that at 10:00pm she thought all the restaurants would be closed for dinner. Pause here so all the NY'ers can laugh!

Fast forward to today. I bumped into her this morning.

YoungLady - We went to New York last weekend. I guess we should have taken your suggestion to use the train.

CaptiousNut - Uh, oh. What happened?

YoungLady - It was a disaster. Especially getting out....we couldn't find 95-North so we just got on 95-South and figured we'd turn around.

CaptiousNut - [chuckling] Did you go over into Jersey? Over the GW bridge?

YoungLady - We went everywhere. [laughing herself]

CaptiousNut - Why again didn't you take the train?

YoungLady - We were going to but when we got to Connecticut I asked the girls in the car if we should 'just drive in' and they said 'yeah'.

There you have it. Forsake the advice of a wise man who's lived in NYC for the impulse of some never-been-anywhere AirHeads in the back of your car!

I even remember imploring the YoungLady to take the train. I told her it wasn't just for convenience but a very relaxing, scenic, enjoyable ride. I could just sense that I had to sell her on the train.

In this world, you really do have to twist someone's arm to help them out.

Barry Ritholtz wrote a great blog on what to do (and not to do) in New York City:

A New Yorker's Guide for Tourists: 20 Ways to Make Your Stay in New York City More Enjoyable

If you are seriously planning a trip, make sure you read the comment section of Barry's post as well.

Now, getting back to the query of this post - why are humans so immune to good advice?

I really don't know. My research is ongoing and incomplete.