# dumb thing I do. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 15, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351 "2003-08-15T08:06:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/41 "2003-08-16T16:47:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lobsang \* > \*\*Here’s hoping we dumb people never forget to get dressed. \*\* (I actually check some days to make sure I have pants on. The whole “brain getting up at 10:00” thing, you know.) I couldn’t find my house keys awhile ago, and when I went out to check the mailbox, there they were, dangling from the door, the mailbox door wide open and swinging in the breeze. Apparently, I got so engrossed in looking at my bills that my brain just fell right off the track. ---
**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/42 "2003-08-17T17:00:52Z")
I also absentmindedly check my watch all the time and not see what time it is. So I always have to look again if someone asks me the time. Once, I was making microwave popcorn to eat with my sisters. After it was done popping in the microwave, I took the bag out and opened it. Then I walked over to the garbage can, dumped the popcorn into the can, and put the bag into the popcorn bowl. I’ve gotten so used to using mechanical pencils and pens that I sometimes have trouble figuring out how to use a pencil sharpener. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/43 "2003-08-17T17:03:27Z")
I changed my webmail password **6 months** ago. But my fingers haven’t worked it out yet. Every single time I go to the site, I type the old password in, then have to delete it and retype. ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/44 "2003-08-17T17:22:59Z")
At work many of the logon names fr the network, software, billing system are set up as [Last Name] [First Initial]. Due to this, I have a very difficult time not pluralising my family name. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/45 "2003-08-17T17:26:43Z")
Heh. Three days a week I go into Philadelphia to volunteer at a place. I get a ride to the train station, take the train, walk the remaining few blocks. Often I need to take the bus home from the train station. The train uses magnetic card pass thingamabobs. In one day, I tried six times (in a row) to feed my train ticket into the turnstile upside down. Then handed the front desk my train ticket, instead of ID, whilst signing into the building. I’ve tried to unlock my school locker with my house key. I can’t count the number of times I’ve mixed up locker combinations (hall locker, gym locker, locker at TKD). Once (in June. End of junior year), I needed to go to the office to get my hall locker combo, because I couldn’t remember it for the life of me. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/46 "2003-08-17T17:55:31Z")
I like to try to pay for things with my driver’s license. Although I guess that’s just more absent-mindedness. I forget to look at what I’m giving them. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/47 "2003-08-17T20:16:37Z")
I’ve forgotten to pick up my change on quite a few occasions ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/48 "2003-08-17T21:18:17Z")
I lose pens. Constantly. If I’m working on something, and I get up to do something else, when I come back the pen is invariably not there. Maybe it sunk into the chair or the couch cushions, maybe I took it with me and set it down somewhere, but usually I’ll spend a good five minutes looking for the pen when I come back. Often I give up and get a new pen. At work I have to be very conscious of leaving my pens on my desk before I get up. You can only ask for more pens so many times before they start to look at you funny. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/49 "2003-08-17T22:20:06Z")
I travel a lot. When I’m home I tend to pick up the phone and dial ‘9’ to get an “outside” line. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/50 "2003-08-17T22:26:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JimSox5 \* > I always look at my watch when talking of any amount of time, even though my watch has no date display. Well, as a matter of face, my watch also lacks exsistence. I’ve even held up wrist before and never bothered to look at it. That was fairly embarassing. Yah. Typical Furd thing to do: Wonder what the temperature is, and then look at the dial of my watch to see if (by some miracle) the watch I’ve been wearing for six years has suddenly sprouted a thermometer. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/51 "2003-08-18T00:13:26Z")
I’ve never actually done this (always realize what I am about to do just before any sound comes out of my open mouth) but nearly - when at home - pick up the phone and say, in my politest voice - “Hello, [company name], Peter speaking, how can I help you” ---
**Author:** ![sperfur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@sperfur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sperfur)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/52 "2003-08-19T15:38:19Z")
[hijack] For 2 or 3 days, everytime I see one of your posts, this has been going through my head: [Sting voice]: **Loooobbsang** , you don’t have to put on the red light…[/Sting] Do you think I need psychotherapy? Somebody please help me. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/53 "2003-08-19T16:35:48Z")
I just bought a house and moved directly across the street from the house I had been living in. I predicted that, during the first week in the new house, I would pull into the wrong driveway at least twice and have to back up 20-30 feet so I’d end up parked in the correct driveway. It hasn’t happened yet, but I have no idea why. I lived in the old house for 4 years… sooner or later I’m going to make a right, out of habit, instead of a left. I think. (And my dogs will be watching out the front window, thinking, “what the hell is wrong with her?”) ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/54 "2003-08-19T19:10:22Z")
It hasn’t happened yet because you’re still thinking about it. I went to a Tupperware party at a friend’s, some distance away from where we live. Part of the route was the same as the way I went when I was commuting to college. Coming home, I started thinking about all the times I drove that way in the past. Next thing I knew I was pulling up in front of my parents’ house, some twelve miles south of where I was supposed to be. I honestly didn’t realize I had passed where I was supposed to turn off until I parked the car. The thing that made me feel really stupid was that this was about fifteen years after I quit driving to school. ---
**Author:** ![ThatDuckIsEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@ThatDuckIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatDuckIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/55 "2003-08-19T20:52:51Z")
oh man, i mess up with the wrong phone greeting, but only if I’m really stressed out. I use my mailbox key to upon my apt. door and vice/versa quite regularly. not to say you guys are STUPID or anything, but these stories make me feel so much better! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mtrahey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mtrahey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtrahey)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/56 "2003-08-19T21:36:56Z")
Not long ago I got in to my car and my brain said “Home, Jeeves” and kicked in my internal auto-pilot. Half an hour later, after a lovely drive with no traffic the auto-pilot says “almost home Brain sir”. The auto-pilot disengages and I find my self pulling into an apartment complex I haven’t lived in for 3 years, 20 miles from my current home. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/57 "2003-08-20T21:29:37Z")
Thanks **sperfur** , now I have that line stuck in my head, playing over and over. (it’s all I can remember of that song) The talk of phone stupidity made me remember something. One time the phone rang. It was a colleague at work, who has never rang me at home before. He is about the same age (well maybe older) as my dad, and comes from Liverpool, like my dad, so I thought it _was_ my dad and went into talking-to-dad mode. Felt the prize idiot when I realized it was the guy at work and that I had greeted him a bit too informally. ---
**Author:** ![sperfur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@sperfur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sperfur)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/58 "2003-08-21T13:55:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lobsang \* > **Thanks sperfur, now I have that line stuck in my head, playing over and over.** Share my pain, **Lobsang**. This has been going on for _days_. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351/59 "2003-08-21T14:13:47Z")
This is the most comforting place I’ve ever hung out. Every time I think I’ve got early onset Alzheimer’s (or OCD or some other socially difficult condition), you guys reassure me that if I do, I’m at least far from alone! Lobsaaaang, you don’t have to put on the…oops, sorry, now you’ve got ME singing it, too! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-thing-i-do/195351.md?page=2)