Absolutes have already come up in class and in general are a factor that helps me decide whether a statement is applicable or not. A particularly dorky example of this happened in July of 2017 when I was at San Diego Comic Con. There was a "Great Debate" panel where personalities debated nerd-related questions. The audience was given small signs with "YES" and "NO" to hold up and vote on these questions. The question came up "Is mind control always wrong to use?" To my surprise I was one of maybe 30 "NO" signs in a room that held at least a thousand people. I explained to my neighbors "What if someone was about to murder a child? Would controlling their mind to stop them be acceptable?" They replied yes and realized that the "always" made it a problematic question.
Kant is a proponent of absolutes, and although I agree with the essence of much of what he says I think it's unsophisticated to make a statement that lying is always wrong. Kant's assurance that consequences (124-125) only apply when lying would be a small comfort to an abused woman who ex has just been given her location by a Kantian employee at a domestic violence resource center.
I agreed with Kant's point about dealing with people "in kind." I try to be kind and helpful to most people I meet (unless they give off threatening vibes), but in the case of acquaintances or other people who have proven to be unreliable or try to take advantage of my kindness (people I barely know who have flaked on commitments then sending a text asking me to help them move comes to mind!) I tend to ignore them after one or two examples of this bad behavior.
