# Minor OCD quirks you have
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 24, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729 "2006-10-24T17:22:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/1 "2006-10-24T17:22:32Z")
For example: Every time I walk through the hallway between the counselling office and the main office, I drum my fingers three times on the cabinets on each side. If I don’t, it bugs me until I do. Another: My desk at work can be as messy as can be imagined, but the “menubar” portion, at the top of the desk, must be perfectly situated or I can’t get any work done. Everything must be in its place and aligned just so. Forget the sloppy pile of papers on the other corner. The calendar must be square with the edge of the desk!
I certainly must not be the only person here with little quirks like these. What do you do?
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### Author:  [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/2 "2006-10-24T17:51:26Z")
If I do not have at least one Queen of Hearts in my wallet, Very Bad Things will happen. I started carrying one when I was 14. When I was 17 I took it out to thin the wallet a little. Within an hour, a guy I knew at school crashed into the back of my Corolla and totalled it.
I must have a piece of scrap paper and writing utinsel available anytime I head out.
I feel naked without a pocketknife handy.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/3 "2006-10-24T18:00:48Z")
I just have to snip or pull loose threads on clothes or buttons. Even at the cost of losing the button.
My pocket contents can’t be too bulgy, get tangled (like pens do with sun glasses), or clack around audibly.
If I miss a spot while shaving my face, I can’t stop fingering the stubble.
When wearing a tie, I want to periodically untie and re-tie it. Not because it gets sloppy, but usually because it’s a little too neat. (I may _be_ OC, but I hate to _look_ it.)
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### Author:  [@wasson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wasson)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/4 "2006-10-24T18:08:24Z")
My door locks itself when I close it, so I’ve gotten in the habit of tapping my pockets, in order, every time I leave my house before I shut my door. Right front, cell phone. Left front, keys. Back left, wallet. Then I close my door.
This habit has spread, and now I do it when I leave friend’s houses and apartments too.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/5 "2006-10-24T18:08:53Z")
Well, I caught myself today folding my all dollar bills face-in.
Sailboat
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/6 "2006-10-24T18:14:05Z")
My dresser drawers have to be shut before I can go to sleep.
Also I find myself unable to stand the smell of saliva lately. That’s a weird/new one.
I hate it when someone else uses my pillow, although I have mellowed since having a child.
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### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/7 "2006-10-24T18:18:15Z")
Not sure if it’s OCD or not, but I count things. If I don’t make an effort not to I’d be doing it all the time. If there’s nothing to count I multiply in my head (1,2,4,8,16,32,64 etc).
Another little number thing, I may be on a kick where the numbers I see need to add up to a multiple of 5. Like a license plate with the number 159. That works because it adds up to 15, if it didn’t I would add the next number I see until it does.
I do a couple other similar number things, which is a bit odd since I’m really not a math person at all.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/8 "2006-10-24T18:34:33Z")
I can only take baths at night by candlelight, and all the lights in the house must be turned off. And the front door must be locked and chained.
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### Author:  [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/9 "2006-10-24T18:50:25Z")
I have a few quirks like this. As mentioned by someone else, all of the bills in my wallet are organized by denomination, right side up and face forward. The world wouldn’t end if it got messed up, I just like them that way. If there is a pile of books or papers in front of me, I like to sort it by size and make sure the corners are all lined up. Also, it’s very important to me that my CD and DVD collections are organized alphabetically at all times.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/10 "2006-10-24T18:55:34Z")
Sometimes, when I get a few blocks away from my office building at the end of my morning commute, I find myself thinking “I quit, I quit, I F-cking Quit!!!”.
I then realize that I need the money to pay my bills and I proceed as usual.
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### Author:  [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/11 "2006-10-24T19:14:28Z")
When I buy something at the grocery store I cannot leave with fewer than three items. Since we live no more than two minutes from a grocery my shopping method is “Hey, looks like we’re low on bread. I’ll go pick some up”, rather than waiting and making a regular pilgramige to stock up. So more often than not I will find myself at the store with only one or two items on my ‘list’ and I have to wander around until I find at least one more thing.
This has led to much agonizing on my part over the very real issue of how things should be counted. If I get one 12-pack of Diet Coke and one 12-Pack of Mt. Dew is that two items or do they both simply count as ‘soda’? I know that I cannot abide two 12-packs of the same beverage being counted as two items, but is the cutoff point at the level of type, or of category?
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/12 "2006-10-24T19:17:14Z")
When I staple papers the stack must be perfectly aligned.
I put glasses away in the cupboard in closest-packed hex configuration.
My socks are folded and sorted by color in rows in the drawer (black, blue, green).
Odd, because I’m not particularly organized in other respects. The guy in _Sleeping With The Enemy_ really gave me the creeps.
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
I can only take baths at night by candlelight, and all the lights in the house must be turned off. And the front door must be locked and chained.
[/QUOTE]
This sounds like a great opening scene for a horror flick. 😉
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/13 "2006-10-24T19:20:48Z")
[QUOTE=Alistair McCello]
This has led to much agonizing on my part over the very real issue of how things should be counted. If I get one 12-pack of Diet Coke and one 12-Pack of Mt. Dew is that two items or do they both simply count as ‘soda’? I know that I cannot abide two 12-packs of the same beverage being counted as two items, but is the cutoff point at the level of type, or of category?
[/QUOTE]
Each line on the receipt counts as one item. Two 12-packs of Diet Coke is two items. Two hundred twelve grapes is one item. Six cups of yogurt is 6 items. Just my 2¢.
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### Author:  [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/14 "2006-10-24T19:37:23Z")
My paper money has to go in order of denomination and the bills should all face the same way.
If there is room in my cigarette pack, the lighter must go in it.
Certain things on my desk must be kept in certain places. I get jumpy if they’re moved.
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### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/15 "2006-10-24T19:39:26Z")
[QUOTE=Missy2U]
My paper money has to go in order of denomination and the bills should all face the same way.
[/QUOTE]
Like several others in this thread I do that also. For myself though, I attribute this to the fact that I spent a lot of time with my grandmother who spent years as a bookkeeper and she taught me how to handle money.
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### Author:  [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/16 "2006-10-24T19:50:13Z")
I can have a mess around me but it has to be a neat mess.
For instance, right now on my desk, I have three stacks of papers and there is really no rhyme or reason for the three, but they are very neat and squared up.
All dirty dishes in the house must be next to the sink and rinsed out. They don’t have to be washed, just rinsed out and staged up next to the sink.
A dish may not be allowed to exist if it is dirty and next to the television in the living room.
When not using the computer mouse (arrow) it shall remain parked on a line on the screen so that the line somehow intersects the arrow into two equal parts.
I have to check frequently to see if my zipper is all the way up.
I’ll think of more later.
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### Author:  [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/17 "2006-10-24T20:07:24Z")
I can have a mess around me but it has to be a neat mess.
For instance, right now on my desk, I have three stacks of papers and there is really no rhyme or reason for the three, but they are very neat and squared up.
All dirty dishes in the house must be next to the sink and rinsed out. They don’t have to be washed, just rinsed out and staged up next to the sink.
A dish may not be allowed to exist if it is dirty and next to the television in the living room.
When not using the computer mouse (arrow) it shall remain parked on a line on the screen so that the line somehow intersects the arrow into two equal parts.
I have to check frequently to see if my zipper is all the way up.
I’ll think of more later.
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### Author:  [@Logan\_5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Logan_5)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/18 "2006-10-24T21:03:51Z")
for me it’s surface imperfections. I hate feeling any rough edges on any surface and I will pick at them with my fingers/nails until I either “correct” the surface, damage the surface further, my fingers are sore or worse yet, my fingernail becomes jagged, at which point I become focused on the edge of my fingernails. I’ve been told it is related to trichotillomania and it has to do with sensory feedback.
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### Author:  [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/19 "2006-10-24T22:14:13Z")
You people are creepy.
I have only one real OCD, and it is an entirely practical one:
_Before allowing a door to lock behind me, I must first confirm that my keys are in my pocket._
This compulsion comes from being locked out of my home, car and office once each. And only once.
And the last one was only because someone changed the key code combination without informing me.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-ocd-quirks-you-have/377729/20 "2006-10-25T00:08:49Z")
When I click on a link the tip of the arrow has be square on the link or in the middle of a button. If it’s above or below when I click I have to go back and click again, or quickly click on a new link to get rid of the twitchy feeling.
When typing, I need to hit the letters square on as well. Sometimes if I hit it off I have to delete what I typed and retype it.
Bizzare.
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