# Areas of your life where you have failed to be a functioning adult **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 5, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261 "2016-04-05T15:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/41 "2016-04-06T00:06:16Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’ve gotten into the habit of just cooking everything in one big pot. Just dump in several ingredients together, like a stew or goulash. FWIW, this is how they punish people in solitary confinement in prison. They call it a prison loaf. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/42 "2016-04-06T00:14:02Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > You need to get something like [this](http://www.walmart.com/ip/Apollo-Precision-Tools-79-Piece-Multi-Purpose-Tool-Kit/17420192). I own a toolkit like that, it was less than $30 and it has served pretty much every tool based need I have had for years. Plus I know where everything is. Sure, I could get one of those. But by Monday, there would be three tools in every room of my house, four in my garage and seven under the backseat of my car. By Wednesday, most of them would no longer exist in this dimension. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/43 "2016-04-06T00:23:03Z")
I got married so I didn’t have to adult anymore. Tho I am in charge of electronics. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/44 "2016-04-06T00:25:14Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > Responsible eating choices. I just had lunch from a place called Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken. I should not be allowed to make my own food choices. I read the post before looking at the name and said “wait, I know someone else who did that!” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/45 "2016-04-06T12:39:06Z")
I was just thinking about something along these lines the other day. I’ve never really felt like my house is furnished / decorated like an adult’s. Looking at it the other day I decided it will pass, but only on account of the acceptability of the shabby chic look. I don’t have any quality artwork; only cheaply framed prints and a couple of original works by a friend. I have cheap throw rugs all over the place; they suit the room well enough but they’re just cheap things I picked up at discount stores. I don’t have a proper set of dishes or silverware and forget cookware. Speaking of which, I rarely cook, other than whatever I prepare for my lunch at work. I could never throw together an impromptu meal, unless one wanted to eat yogurt with a side of microwave ready bacon. Luckily I live alone (or maybe it’s the reason \*why \*I live alone.) Cell phones continue to vex me. I cannot understand them, though I continue to give it the ol’ college try (if that college is one reached by the short bus). ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/46 "2016-04-06T13:30:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It depends. Did you have chicken for your meal and doughnuts for desert? If so, you made the right choice. Doing it the other way around would have been irresponsible. I had chicken for the meal with a side of tater tots (which I only ate less than half of, in my defense). The donut was planned as dessert, but the “vanilla bean” flavor was a little too sweet, so I only ate a single bite of it. I don’t think fancy donuts are ever going to be my thing. Does that sort of discrimination count as adulting? > [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I read the post before looking at the name and said “wait, I know someone else who did that!” :smack: There were people in line before and after me, so I was clearly not the only culprit. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/47 "2016-04-06T13:33:35Z")
I was hoping I would never be a fully functional adult in any way but then those damn kids came along and I had to act responsibly. I’ve still managed to be an adult only on a part time basis though. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/48 "2016-04-06T13:35:10Z")
Wife: “I’m going to check the mail. Watch the baby for a minute.” Me: “ok” …several minutes later… Wife: “What the heck happened here…?” I’m on the floor, broken toys spread everywhere, 18 month old is standing on top of me arms raised in a classic “O’Doyle rules!!” pose. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/49 "2016-04-06T13:39:19Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Wife: “I’m going to check the mail. Watch the baby for a minute.” > Me: “ok” > > …several minutes later… > > Wife: “What the heck happened here…?” > > I’m on the floor, broken toys spread everywhere, 18 month old is standing on top of me arms raised in a classic “O’Doyle rules!!” pose. Ah, but an adult never stands so tall as when he takes a dive for a child 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/50 "2016-04-06T13:43:29Z")
Exercise. We eat pretty well, but I sit on my ass all day at work and need to not do that the rest of the time. I usually fail. Also, I’m outsmarted and out-negotiated by my 4 year old on an embarrassingly regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/51 "2016-04-06T15:38:25Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I can cook adequately, but only one thing at a time. It baffles me, how someone can cook six things at once, and have them all ready at the same time. I cook Thanksgiving for our extended family once every three years (when it’s my turn) and it’s just a matter of timing. The turkey takes about four hours (all hail Alton Brown) and the mashed potatoes take maybe twenty minutes, so I don’t start the potatoes until about thirty minutes before the turkey is ready. Prep work, of course, is key. By all means, peel and dice the potatoes and get them into the salted water, but don’t turn on the oven burner to start boiling until it’s time. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/52 "2016-04-06T19:32:29Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > To be honest, I left out the part where I couldn’t get the screw off. I \*used \*a butter knife; it failed to loosen the screw. > > Thanks for attempting to cheer me up. However, I know what I truly am right now. There just never seems to be a _Phillips_ butter knife laying around when you need one. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/53 "2016-04-06T19:34:15Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > There just never seems to be a _Phillips_ butter knife laying around when you need one. true dat ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/54 "2016-04-06T19:39:51Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > There just never seems to be a _Phillips_ butter knife laying around when you need one. I’m sensing a new product idea forming… ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/55 "2016-04-06T19:41:34Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > I’m sensing a new product idea forming… First one with a prototype gets to be an adult! ETA: Actually, using the word “prototype” kinda made me feel like a grown-ass man. Yeah, bitches! ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/56 "2016-04-06T20:25:30Z")
“Areas of your life where you have failed to be …” – for me, most of them. > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > My husband is a grownup, so he does all the cell phone-insurance-bills-car-travel-taxes-mortgage sort of stuff. > > I just cook, clean, and shop. If he ever dies, I’ll be up the creek. A late uncle of mine found himself in that situation. He was a dreamy artistic type, clueless about anything practical – and totally innumerate. His wife did all the grown-up stuff. He was totally convinced that he would die before her, so “no problem”; but – in their eighties – it so worked out, that she died first. The poor old sod – with his mind unravelling anyway, with old age – had a miserable time for the half-dozen years, over which he survived her. Friends and relatives helped him out, all they could; but it wasn’t a happy experience. > [@Anaamika](#): > > I thought of another one. My floor is a perfectly good place for clothes that are not fresh and not quite dirty. I work in an office so I don’t get them that dirty and I don’t feel the need to put them away every day. > > My mom used to be so anal about putting everything away. Never a stray cloth out or a blanket out, not even if you were sick. I believe living is for comfort. I feel for you here. My brother and I dearly love each other; but when we’re in a situation of sharing quarters, we’re like the two guys in _The Odd Couple_– me the slob, him the neatnik. His – in my view – obsession with instantly putting everything away, makes me want to scream; my terminally slack and messy ways (“Organised-ness was made for man, not vice versa”) have the same effect on him. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/57 "2016-04-06T20:35:57Z")
Dating/partnering up. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a female partner but it just seems like so much work and aggravation. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/58 "2016-04-06T21:11:44Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Dating/partnering up. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a female partner but it just seems like so much work and aggravation. Apparently you can outsource your unwanted adulting to them though. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/59 "2016-04-06T23:19:39Z")
I can’t remember to bring the things that I need with me. Say I need to go to the post office to mail a package. I will routinely forget the package. And the post office is 15 miles from our house, so this is not a minor inconvenience. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/60 "2016-04-06T23:40:04Z")
Buying a car on my own. I never have. My father was the car person in the family and every single car I’ve ever owned, all used, have been selected by him, with my agreement. That included the car I’m in now. My father was killed about a year and a half ago, and I’m not sure what I’ll do if and when the time comes to car shop on my own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261.md?page=4)