# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/101 "2016-04-11T11:24:18Z")
> [@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 so organized. I actually use a piece of furniture for that (currently the trunk, at other times a chair). One of my problems with Mom is that she will put everything away; there have been times I couldn’t find a summer piece because she’d hid it under a bunch of winter clothing (what the flying bologna sandwich is a spaghetti strap top doing under a pullover and a wool coat?). She recently spent some time at my brother’s house while there was some work going on in hers and at one point she put away the clothing he’d left out to wear! :smack: We don’t dress in the bathroom, because growing up there was only one usable bathroom and you needed to leave it available (one where you could bathe), so he’d left the clothing on his bed. He walks out and… “Moooom? Am I allowed to kill you?” One of my conversation killers is “I can’t ride a bicycle”. Kills conversations about ecologically riding one to work all dead. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/102 "2016-04-11T20:13:46Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > My pants crotch tore once, and I threw in some mattress sutures with 4.0 chromic gut, which held the pants together for the day. But the damn pants just never healed up properly! > > The Mrs. thinks it’s weird that I can sew up people quite nicely but am hopeless with repairing clothing. I think I mentioned this before, but we had a couple of medical students in our quilt guild for a while and they were amused when we pulled out these [http://www.joann.com/collins-quilter-s-curved-needles/2176931.html?mkwid=7xq05rwU|dc&utm\_source=google&utm\_medium=cpc&utm\_term=&utm\_campaign=Shopping+-+Sewing&CS\_003=12311117&CS\_010=](http://www.joann.com/collins-quilter-s-curved-needles/2176931.html?mkwid=7xq05rwU%7Cdc&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Shopping+-+Sewing&CS_003=12311117&CS_010=) to tie a quilt. Not to mention my mom, whose quilting stitches were so tight she had to use a hemostat to pull the needle through. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/103 "2016-04-12T02:57:15Z")
Eating. I’d quite happily live on a diet of peanut butter on toast, potato chips and chocolate. I do force myself to eat proper food but my food preferences are definitely juvenile. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/104 "2016-04-12T02:59:58Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > A late uncle of mine found himself … had a miserable time for the half-dozen years, over which he survived her. My great aunt didn’t even know which medication she took, so she was in a right pickle when she became widowed. She only outlived my great uncle by six months. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/105 "2016-04-12T05:00:15Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > Eating. I’d quite happily live on a diet of peanut butter on toast, potato chips and chocolate. I do force myself to eat proper food but my food preferences are definitely juvenile. Peanut butter is good on the potato chips too. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/106 "2016-04-12T06:05:30Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Peanut butter is good on the potato chips too. Great! Just what I need: another unhealthy addiction! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/107 "2016-04-12T16:07:06Z")
I don’t have to deal with this, but I might someday and it won’t be pretty. I’ve never lived in an apartment and wouldn’t know the first thing about having to deal with it. I get that I’d write a rent check every month, but coping with too-close neighbors, waiting for my landlord to fix something, not having even a little bit of a yard, hearing everyone else’s noise all the time . . . yeesh. I didn’t do it in my youth, and if I had to start doing it now at age sixty, I don’t know if I could cope. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/108 "2016-04-12T16:22:45Z")
I cannot seem to tie my shoes without the laces needing retying within an hour or so. Drives me batty. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/109 "2016-04-12T16:41:53Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I’m not married, have no kids, don’t have a house. Could I get those things? Yeah, but I really don’t want them. Lots of people consider you a failure as an adult until you are married with children and a mortgage. Hey, I have a house only because I inherited it. And I have no inclination towards marriage and children. So lots of people see me as weird! Not really a conventional adult, by a long shot! ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/110 "2016-04-12T18:07:49Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Peanut butter is good on the potato chips too. Especially if you dip the resulting concoction in chocolate… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/111 "2016-04-12T19:33:41Z")
I don’t know how to use the thermostat. I was never allowed to touch it as a child, and I’ve always lived in moderate climates, so I never really learned. I don’t know how to light the pilot lights on the heaters either. If my husband predeceases me I will probably spend my golden years layered in sweaters like a bag lady. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/112 "2016-04-12T20:26:27Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I cannot seem to tie my shoes without the laces needing retying within an hour or so. Drives me batty. Supposedly this is the first TED Talk: [How to tie your shoes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAFcV7zuUDA). It makes sense to me since you probably have with loops (bends?) going in the same direction which tend to become untied. Following his directions has improved my life greatly. I can’t whistle, or back up a trailer, or solder copper plumbing pipes. As I get older, six feet is about all the higher I want to be off the ground, so tall ladders are out. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/113 "2016-04-17T02:44:19Z")
I turned 39 last Sunday. I still have no idea what you’re supposed to do if you prepay for gas with cash but can’t fit the whole amount of gas in the tank. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/114 "2016-04-17T02:49:55Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I turned 39 last Sunday. I still have no idea what you’re supposed to do if you prepay for gas with cash but can’t fit the whole amount of gas in the tank. You go back inside and tell them you need the change on Pump 2 (or whatever). I didn’t know this until I was about 39 myself. ---
**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 17, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/115 "2016-04-17T02:56:07Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > You go back inside and tell them you need the change on Pump 2 (or whatever). I didn’t know this until I was about 39 myself. My buddy had this scheme worked out where he would go into a gas station, give them $50 for pump X and then ask for a receipt, knowing full well the full amount wouldn’t fit in his tank. He’d go back in and get his change, but submit the $50 receipt on his expenses. He tried talking me into doing it, and as tempting as it was, I couldn’t do it. I was convinced I was going to get caught. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/116 "2016-04-17T05:30:24Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > My buddy had this scheme worked out where he would go into a gas station, give them $50 for pump X and then ask for a receipt, knowing full well the full amount wouldn’t fit in his tank. He’d go back in and get his change, but submit the $50 receipt on his expenses. > > He tried talking me into doing it, and as tempting as it was, I couldn’t do it. I was convinced I was going to get caught. I would expect you’d get caught too. Did you buddy actually do that, or just talk about what a neat idea the thought he had. The receipt would clearly be for a deposit and not for any amount of gas actually pumped. (For one thing, it wouldn’t show the actual gallons pumped or the price per gallon, which every final receipt I’ve ever seen does.) I would think the people over in Accounting would be wise to that. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/117 "2016-04-17T10:41:02Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > My buddy had this scheme worked out where he would go into a gas station, give them $50 for pump X and then ask for a receipt, knowing full well the full amount wouldn’t fit in his tank. He’d go back in and get his change, but submit the $50 receipt on his expenses. > > He tried talking me into doing it, and as tempting as it was, I couldn’t do it. I was convinced I was going to get caught. When I worked in a self serve gas station (1975) there was a couple who’d meet every so often for gas. He’d give me his company gas card and fill up, but leave the pump on. She’d move his car and pull hers forward, then he’d fill hers up. Gas was 52.9 cents a gallon. Real life Bonnie & Clyde. ---
**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 17, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/118 "2016-04-17T19:20:32Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I would expect you’d get caught too. Did you buddy actually do that, or just talk about what a neat idea the thought he had. The receipt would clearly be for a deposit and not for any amount of gas actually pumped. (For one thing, it wouldn’t show the actual gallons pumped or the price per gallon, which every final receipt I’ve ever seen does.) I would think the people over in Accounting would be wise to that. He did it several times, but not all the time. Mostly when he was returning a rental car. He did it for years. He still may be doing it, I haven’t worked there since 2013. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/119 "2016-04-17T19:46:02Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > He did it several times, but not all the time. Mostly when he was returning a rental car. He did it for years. He still may be doing it, I haven’t worked there since 2013. I don’t have to turn in receipts for rental car gas, but I do have to turn in my rental car invoice, which has the mileage on it. It wouldn’t even take much scrutiny to catch some misbehavior here, just a little savvy code and only human intervention when it finds something funny. In fact, I tripped an automatic fraud alert with a series of high charges for taxi rides. All easily explained with a short narrative of my travels, with addresses. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261/120 "2016-04-18T14:59:00Z")
Take it easy on yourselves. Not everyone can adult everything. In our house the wife adults things financial and I adult things electronic. Division of labor is a wonderful thing. Between us I don’t think there is much of anything we can’t adult. But it’s great having areas that you just don’t have to worry about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/areas-of-your-life-where-you-have-failed-to-be-a-functioning-adult/751261.md?page=7)