Of the many data entry temp jobs I had in my youth, the assignment at Bank of America really stands out. It was in a room with about 50 temps, inputting name, social security number, date and dollar amount of quarterly tax checks being deposited. The machines we input this info into would record our keystrokes and keep track of who was fastest. In another room our work was double-checked for accuracy. At the end of the assignments, awards were given out to the people with the highest speed x accuracy number. I won second prize.
In every office job I’ve ever had, I’ve always been better than most at the general operation of computers, as well as faster at learning a new computer program.
Me too! And with place names, too. It pains me to hear people mangling place names when abroad. For some reason I can usually get it spot on. Same with unfamiliar words in English - I think i have the knack of breaking them down into their constituent parts so I can pronounce them, and usually work out what they mean too.
I also generally pick up shortcuts etc in computer programs quickly. Within a couple of months of starting my current job, my supervisor - who has worked here for 10 years - was asking me how to do stuff. I had never seen the program before; it is pagebuilding and editing software unique (as far as I know) to the company.
I’m good at untangling Christmas lights. It’s probably that I have the patience for it.
I’m really good at typing. Before eighth grade, I would type with just two fingers and even then my mother said I was pretty fast. In eighth grade I took a typing class. During my freshman year I had to take another typing class, as it was required. This was stupid as I could already type 80-90 WPM. This was especially noticeable when I had to sit next to two people who could only type about 10 WPM. I could tell the teacher thought, “Why are you in my class?” After lunch, kids would come to my computer and ask me to type stuff as they were talking about me to their friends at lunch about how fast I could type.
[The Elephant Man]I am not an animal![/The Elephant Man]
I too can type on one topic while talking to someone on an entirely different topic.
I can also read a novel while accurately listening to a lecture. (Got me in a bit o’ trouble in school, that one. Teachers don’t much like it when they think they’ve caught you not paying attention and you can parrot back their last two paragraphs word for word.)
I am the master of the last-minute problem solving for any situation involving fabric. Started when I was an assistant wardrobe shlep in college theater, but to this day I can take any panic moment (torn straps, missing bras, pant legs of different lengths, tablecloth stained, draperies fell,) and salvage the incident with style. Has to be last minute, though, or my powers are weakened.
Oh! I just thought of one more! I’m sticking to my rule of only mentioning stuff other people have mentioned to me.
My ultra-special secret power is my intuitive sense of time and duration, which can truly border on the uncanny. Wake me up at any time of the night, and I tend to now what time it is to within 3 or 4 minutes. I seem to have a remarkable sense of how long things will take. Setting off on a car journey, I can often guesstimate when we’ll arrive to within one minute. For really long journeys, lasting five or six hours (OK, long by UK standards), my accuracy goes down to within 10 minutes of the actual arrival time, but is still pretty good. Whenever there’s any group discussion about tasks to be completed and how long they’ll take, my estimates are always the most accurate.
I have never tried to cultivate this ‘power’, I don’t know why I have it, it’s not really useful, and at times it would be nice to be able to turn it off. But I’m stuck with it.
I have got to be one of the slowest readers around. I must read every word and … what’s that? Stuff I am good at…ok.
If I decide to, I can remember anything I read, as long as it is a hard copy. For some reason (screen refresh??) I can’t do the same thing while reading from a monitor of any kind, at least as far as I have had experience with. I can recall data quickly and accurately with seemingly no limit on back history. I can also remember pictures or scenes to a high degree of detail. It is like taking a picture of what I want to remember. This can be done very quickly too. I can pluck a credit card number in one or two looks. My moral stance won’t let me take advantage of this though.
I have been told many times over that I come with unconventional solutions to problems. In fact, I am known to come up with many different solutions to problems than methodically going through them to find out which is truly the best one. I had a prof tell me that he did not think that the way I finished a project was possible, and mine ran even thinner than his did
I draw conclusions based on observations fairly well. I asked a girl at work how long she had been separated (within the week) and she had not told anyone about it. It was “simplicity itself”. I just like watching people.
I have several little mostly useless skills. I’m very good at reading upside down. I can hear very high-pitched noises, like if I have the volume on the TV turned down, I can hear a little high-pitched noise if the picture is very light. And I can guess lengths very accurately without using a ruler. Nothing I can put on my resume, but it gives me a little feeling of satisfaction.
Due to my extensive vocabulary, some knowledge of French, substantial exposure to Spanish (naturally, in these parts), and a few vaguely remembered sound change rules, I can take a stab at reading most Romance languages. Of course, we’re talking things like signs and wine labels here, not Proust or Dante. Still, I was pleased recently to be able to read, on a bottle of white Puglese, that the making of the wine was conducted so as to create an unmistakeable flavor.
Context, and a knowledge of Romance language roots in English, are very helpful.
I’m good at teaching myself things. I taught myself to read when I was 4, to swim when I was 9, and to knit when I was 13. I’m also a speed reader, and I am an expert knitter, and pretty fast as well.
I have an uncanny ability to remember what words mean and how they’re spelled. I’ll read it somewhere once, and I’ll remember it forever, medical terminology included. If I come across a word I’m not familiar with, I can usually figure it out by looking at it’s components. This comes in handy at work, since I’m a medical transcriptionist. The only time I ever have to look up how to spell a word is when I’ve never heard it before, and that’s pretty rare. I have a stack of terminology reference books on my desk that I’ve touched maybe twice since I started my part-time work-at-home job in May, though I do tend to use online resources more, but even then, I maybe have to consult them once a day, tops.
My coworkers at my full time job like to quiz me sometimes. They’ll grab a dictionary and choose random words and ask me what they mean. I’ve been wrong once. They’ve taken to nicknaming me WD (walking dictionary).
Most of my skills have already been mentioned by others.
I too can untie complicated and frustrating knots with ease, especially with necklaces and computer cables. I’m an expert at removing splinters.
I can give a good home haircut, providing you want a buzz And last but not least, I can ripple my tongue so that it looks like it’s doing a belly dance-- always a hit with the boys!
Cribbage. No one will play me at work. At a recent tournament I went 17-2 in round robin play then went 6-0 in the double elimination playoffs. I have been offered cash money to be the partner for a doubles tournament this October. Our annual family tournament is played on a 10 lane board that plays to 1001 points. It takes 4 to 6 hours to play a game. I drilled all 10,021 holes in that board but have yet to win a game on it.
And I’m pretty good at electrical troubleshooting. But thats what I do for a living.
Ooh, ooh, I have one that (i think) nobody has mentioned yet!
I can shoot from the hip–get this–better than when I actually aim. Just hold the gun at my hip and pull the trigger (comes in most handy in paint ball). I don’t actually own any guns, either, so its not like I practice.
I have astounding beginner’s luck. I can only think of once when I played a game and failed to win the first time. On more than one occasion, I have been in a card game (like gin) and been dealt the winning hand before I even knew how to play the game.
“okay, so now its your turn. you want to get three or four of a kind, and a run of three or four to win…”
"oh, you mean like this "
Even intense strategy games (Axis & Allies) I rarely miss on my beginner’s luck.
On a related note, back in my D&D days I could throw clutch 20’s on a 20 sided die, but only when faced with certain death. Lightning bolts especially. I would convince the DM to give me a chance to resist all the damage if I threw a 20… and voila! The more I bragged about it before hand, the better my 20 chances :).
And the song memorizing thing. I used this method to memorize things for classes (poems and the like) by inventing songs with the memorized list as the words. I also have quazi-Wayne-Brady-like song making up skills, but since obviously Wayne is making a living at it, maybe they don’t count for this list.
Same here. I read very fast, and then that’s it. It really sucks on long trips, because I run out of things to read way too fast. But I do other things too. I can wiggle my eyebrows independently of each other, and I can make the “water drip noise” by tapping my cheek.
I, too, have this ability, but mainly when everyone else has not played the game either. I can quickly figure out and exploit the basic strategies, and by the time everyone else has figured it out, my advantage goes away, but at least I can say “hey, what took you so long to figure that out”?
People accuse me of having good luck with dice, too. But that, again, is due to being able to figure out the possible combinations and trying to do things to take advantage of the expected outcomes.
In fact, two gaming pals of mine were discussing luck and probability. One of them is convinced he just has “bad luck” when it comes to rolls. The other knows in his mind that it is all probability, but also has an admittedly half-baked theory that if you think you’re gonna roll good, you will.
So the first guy takes a D6, yells out “YOU CAN’T CALL THE DICE…SIX!!!” and then throws the dice. Guess what it came up: heheheh. While it was certainly just luck, the confident way he said that combined with actually rolling a 6 made it freakin hilarious.
And last but not least, I can ripple my tongue so that it looks like it’s doing a belly dance-- always a hit with the boys!