Tbh the car buying thing is a bit much. It's just a repair, not some huge life event. People get way too worked up over word choices.

Ugh, that's so frustrating! It feels like the system is set up to trap you. Like, you're told to keep your finances simple and not have cards you don't use, but then you get hit for closing one. Did your buddy try calling the card company to see if they could switch the account to a different card type instead of closing it? I've heard that sometimes works to keep the history.

My grandma kneaded her dough for ten minutes and her pasta was always perfect. That dishwasher might have just been having a bad day. Why trust a random comment over generations of proven technique?