# Stupid OCD Shit I Do. (go on, list yours) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 1, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998 "2011-03-01T00:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/41 "2011-03-01T15:07:42Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Who else washes their body in the same order, every single time? You mean there are people who don’t? :eek: But I also dry myself off in the same order, every single time. But wait, there’s more to it than just drying-in-order. I make sure to always grab the towel in the same orientation to start, and use different areas of the towel for different body areas, dried in the same order each time, but also “flipping” the towel at pre-determined steps. See, this way when I’m done, the towel gets hung on its hook in such a way that only every four days will it be in the same orientation. Not only do I have it worked out such that the wettest part of the towel is then the most exposed to the air when hung back on the hook, but I’m also maximizing the use of all areas of the towel over time. How’s that for OCD? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/42 "2011-03-01T15:07:52Z")
The restaurant my wife works in has a certain special that, when combined with tax, comes to exactly $6.66. She says you would not believe how many people refuse to pay exactly $6.66. Interestingly, they always offer to pay 6.65, but get pissy when she refuses and says, “Well, how about 6.67?” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/43 "2011-03-01T15:10:09Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > Also,\*\*\* nobody\*\*\* loads the dishwasher correctly except me. I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for keeping my mouth shut on the rare occasions when my husband “helps” me load or unload the dishwasher. I have to wait for him to leave the house so I can do it all over again correctly. I love him and don’t want him to [del] know the full extent of my insanity[/del] think I don’t appreciate him. > [@sandra\_nz](#): > > This reminds me of a customer I used to get when I was a bank teller. She couldn’t bear for her account balance not to be a rounded number and only ever made rounded deposits/withdrawals. Each month, when interest was paid on the account, she would come and withdraw enough to leave a round number in the account. I’m not so crazy that I have to withdraw money to leave the balance even. But my deposits are even. If I have a check for $157.62, I will deposit $150 and get the rest in change so as not to have an odd deposit. The balance can be whatever it is. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/44 "2011-03-01T15:14:59Z")
> [@campp](#): > > The restaurant my wife works in has a certain special that, when combined with tax, comes to exactly $6.66. She says you would not believe how many people refuse to pay exactly $6.66. At the local grocery store a few months ago, my purchase total came to $6.66. The cashier was truly horrified, and _seriously_ wanted me to buy a pack of gum or something, to change the total. When I said “No, thanks, that’s OK”, she offered to _pay for the gum_. Anything so my total wouldn’t be $6.66! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/45 "2011-03-01T15:31:17Z")
I sort the groceries when I put them on the conveyor belt for check out. The money in my wallet must be in order according to denomination. ($20’s, 10’s, 5’s then 1’s) I watch my odometer and act like it’s some kind of major accomplishment whenever it’s an even number divided by 1000 or some type of repeating number. (i.e 35,000 or 35,353) I’m a pretty good speller but a terrible typer so I spend a lot of time spellchecking things. I won’t usually post until there aren’t any mistakes in my post. Whenever I play a video game I won’t quit until I’ve beaten whatever battle I’m involved in. Quite a few times I’ve lost sleep because of this. More than once I’ve nearly been late to work because of this. I’ve never paid attention to M & M’s but I always eat Jelly Belly’s one at a time and the colors have to be different until I’ve eaten at least four of them. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/46 "2011-03-01T15:34:47Z")
I sort my groceries too, but I don’t think that’s OCD, is it? To put the cold things together, so I can put them away first? That’s just practical. Now if I lined them up in groups of six items, or put all the blue boxes together, or whatever, that’s another thing. And you go for it, **furryman**. And I line up my money, too, lowest to highest denomination, all the faces the same way. I think a lot of people do that. ---
**Author:** ![Acorns.but\_not\_Bacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@Acorns.but\_not\_Bacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acorns.but_not_Bacon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/47 "2011-03-01T16:16:29Z")
I don’t mean to offend and I don’t claim to own a particular phrase such as “an OCD”. My disorder is a really bad mental illness that has effected me nine years and smattered itself throughout my childhood. It has severely disrupted my school life, my college life and also having a job. Where I couldn’t even work for just eight hours a week. You may have little quirks or maybe a predisposition to the disorder, I think a lot of people have habits which are irrational. I would never brag about this disorder as being unique, I would curse it for it’s destruction. But my OCD is my life. Again, sorry for this post in a lighthearted thread, it’s just whenever someone lists their “OCD’s” it kind of scratches me, in a way. Anyway, sorry, really don’t mean to have a go or anything. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/48 "2011-03-01T16:19:51Z")
I don’t even like cashews. But since I am obsessed with ridiculous names and **MikeG** was already taken, I chose this one. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/49 "2011-03-01T16:24:25Z")
I know that _actual_ OCD isn’t funny, **Acorns…but not Bacon**. I don’t have it. I am weird about a few things which is something entirely different. And dammit, uneven numbers of M&Ms do upset the universe. Gaaah! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/50 "2011-03-01T16:25:09Z")
> [@Labtrash](#): > > I’m a food sorter. > > M&Ms: seperate into like colors, eat clockwise till all colors have the same number, then eat each like color pile (clockwise again). This is almost exactly right, except the correct order is “green, yellow, red, blue, orange, (tan,) dark brown.” ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/51 "2011-03-01T16:26:11Z")
I never pour myself a full glass of a beverage. I won’t go past the halfway mark, and I am usually lower than that. I could be scarfing down hot wings, or spicy Thai food and I might pour a 1/3 glass of diet tea or just water over and over again after I empty it repeatedly. I check the bathroom about 10-15 times before I leave for work to make sure it’s clean. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/52 "2011-03-01T16:30:08Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > I try desperately not to step on cracks, even though I know my mother’s back will be just fine if I do. I do this on the sidewalk. Not only do I not step on the cracks, but I count out my steps as I go, in groups of 4 and each group should go in one of the sections of sidewalk between cracks. It actually is a little more complicated then that; The steps go…1,2,3,4 ; 5,1,2,3 ; 4,5,1,2 ; 3,4,5,1 ; 2,3,4,5 and then it’s a complete set. It’s really annoying sometimes when I catch myself doing it because I do that pattern with all sorts of things although sometimes I can stop it by forcing myself to think about something else. I have a couple other OCD things with numbers, but they are hard to explain. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/53 "2011-03-01T16:30:09Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Who else washes their body in the same order, every single time? > > 😃 I do this, as well. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/54 "2011-03-01T16:41:46Z")
I find it hard to read anything on my computer without highlighting the section I’m reading. I must eat my meals “evenly.” No going through one dish all at once for me. At the end there must be one bite of chicken, one mouthful of potatoes, and one spear of broccoli. Not so much a pseudo-OCD thing (sorry **Acorns** ), but if I’m walking somewhere and am in a bit of a hurry, I will get an earworm. Not such a bad thing, except the song is ALWAYS Santa Claus is Coming to Town. When I catch myself doing that, I purposefully change it to another, cooler song. That song is ALWAYS Sunshine of Your Love. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/55 "2011-03-01T16:58:42Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > I sort my groceries too, but I don’t think that’s OCD, is it? To put the cold things together, so I can put them away first? That’s just practical. Now if I lined them up in groups of six items, or put all the blue boxes together, or whatever, that’s another thing. And you go for it, **furryman**. And I line up my money, too, lowest to highest denomination, all the faces the same way. I think a lot of people do that. My brother worked as a bagger in high school and told me to always put up the heavy (cans and jars) or bulky items (paper towels/toilet paper) first, so they can go on the bottom and the lighter stuff and produce towards the end. And of course you’d want to keep the frozen stuff together, and probably boxes with sharp corners (cereal and crackers) together too. And you’re supposed to keep folding money in order with the lowest denominations on the outside, so that you aren’t constantly breaking larger bills when you don’t have to. A long time ago I had a job handling money and we were told to put the money in the till facing the same way so that the money-counting machines they used had to make only one pass. So to this day I keep all my cash (not that I even use actual cash much anymore) pointing the same way. (This was a joke on _Laverne and Shirley_ once: Shirley didn’t want George Washington and the other guys “standing on their little heads” in her purse.) ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/56 "2011-03-01T17:01:32Z")
Heh. At my Arby’s, the regular beef-n-cheddar combo with a side of cheddar comes to $6.66. Some of the cashiers have commented on the total, but no one has ever thought more than that of it. And I’ve no problem paying the amount, either - if that’s what the total comes to, that’s what the total comes to. But maybe I’m evil for always ordering the same thing that results in that total. Hmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/57 "2011-03-01T17:11:12Z")
I count everything. No matter what I am doing, I count it and I will keep doing it until I have done it a multiple of 7 times. If I am not doing anything then I am counting in my head and I won’t stop until it is a multiple of 7. The up side of this habit is that I know the multiples of 7 up to 5 digit numbers. It used to be a lot worse (for example, I’d have to do 7/14/21/etc. swipes of deodorant on each arm in the morning) but I trick myself into only doing things the amount of times that I need to by doing them that amount of times and then continuing the count to a multiple of 7 while not doing it. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/58 "2011-03-01T17:52:22Z")
I like pairs, and bilateral symmetry. Designers tell you to group objects in groups of threes but that doesn’t come naturally to me. Canned cat food has to be bought in pairs (by flavor) and then stacked in their spot in the cat’s room in pairs. Each label has to be turned to face forward - they don’t have to be perfectly lined up\*\* but they do have to face forward. \*\* Mr. Horseshoe is more OCD (sorry, **Acorns** ) than me and often complains that I half-ass everything. He would take this opportunity to point out that I even half-ass being anal retentive. 🙂 Big sensations on my body bother me if they only happen on one side or the other. If Mr. Horseshoe honks a tit, for example, I’ll offer him the other one while saying “Make it even! Make it even!!” ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/59 "2011-03-01T18:01:40Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Heh. At my Arby’s, the regular beef-n-cheddar combo with a side of cheddar comes to $6.66. It’s the Number of the Beef. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/60 "2011-03-01T19:16:55Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > It’s the Number of the Beef. That’s OK, because she gets Cheeses on the side, to balance it out. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998.md?page=4)