# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/61 "2011-03-01T19:32:37Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I find it hard to read anything on my computer without highlighting the section I’m reading. What \*\*\*is \*\*\*that? My son does that all the time, but it hurts my eyes to read the reverse text… I do the coloured candy thing, but I sort the piles left to right in order of largest to smallest number. Then I eat whatever it takes to have two piles the same, then I eat from those two piles until there is a third pile the same, etc… Once all the piles of colours have the same number in them, I eat one of each colour from the left pile across to the right… I can’t get away with this very often, because I find it freaks other people out too much. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/62 "2011-03-01T19:39:10Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > 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… I discount a penny when that total comes up. Some people are uncomfortable with totals like that–I just find it silly, though. ---
**Author:** ![silvermist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@silvermist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silvermist)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/63 "2011-03-01T19:44:52Z")
I cannot allow a can of vegs. to be upside down in the cupboard, and have to check the stove at least twice before I leave the house. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/64 "2011-03-01T20:12:22Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I try to avoid stepping on, not just cracks, but also invisible linear projections from the corners of buildings, fences, entryways, walls. > > But that’s just normal right? 😛 HA! Didn’t think I had any until you brought this up… Uh, yeah- that’s normal! ---
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/65 "2011-03-01T20:26:21Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I find it hard to read anything on my computer without highlighting the section I’m reading. Sorry to come back to this, but you don’t any chance have red/green deficiency colourblindness, do you, **tdn**? Just a thought, since my son has this. ---
**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, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/66 "2011-03-01T20:31:55Z")
> [@maisoui](#): > > Sorry to come back to this, but you don’t any chance have red/green deficiency colourblindness, do you, **tdn**? Just a thought, since my son has this. No, I don’t. I think I just do it so that it’s easier to keep my place. On this board I won’t do it when there are a bunch of short posts. But when someone posts something really long, I’ll do it. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/67 "2011-03-01T20:40:29Z")
I’m not sure if this is OCD, but I can’t ever just leave the car parked, sure that I’ve locked it. A few steps away and my mind is literally blank, absolutely no memory at all, of having locked the car. And I can’t walk on to work, or the shops, or into the house, without thinking very hard about the car, so that it occupies a great deal of my mind. Most times I just have to go back and try every door and the boot to be sure I’ve closed it all up. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/68 "2011-03-01T22:32:56Z")
I must pick up pennies and pins whenever I see them. If for some reason I see one and can’t pick it up, I get a little anxious for awhile until it finally moves out of my mind. It comes from a stupid rhyme my mother told me when I was little (the penny/pin thing is because she used the two interchangeably in the rhyme): “See a penny, pick it up All the day you’ll have good luck. See a penny, let it lay, Bad luck follows all the day.” Funny how these things get in your head and stick there, even when you know better. 😛 I also must verify to myself that the garage door is shut. If I can’t remember whether I shut it, I have been known to turn around and go back to check (fortunately this is almost always less than a block from home–I’ve never turned back from any farther distance than that. At that point I just let it go, experience a little anxiety, and then move on. I’ve never left it open, btw) I used to be this way about the stove (had to check it two or three times before I left) but now we’ve got one of those flat-top stoves where it’s extremely obvious whether it’s on or not, so I don’t do this one anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/69 "2011-03-01T22:43:02Z")
I’m a fire freak. When I leave the house I have to make sure the stove is off. I check the elements with my hands a couple of times for each one, point at the dials confirming that they are in the off position and sometimes even come back to make sure. I know even if the stove was on and even if there was an pot of water on it, the worse I would face is a burnt pot and a stinky condo when I got home. But I guess that’s the result of living through 3 fires (neighbours) here in the past 15 years. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/70 "2011-03-01T23:43:01Z")
> [@nani](#): > > When I have two pieces of pizza I always eat the smaller one first. > > I constantly fret about whether I really locked my car or if I’m only thinking I remember the horn going off. What’s worse is that I always have these little inner conversations while I’m walking away from the car, and every step just means more I have to walk to get back into range of the remote, and I get more and more conflicted until I just finally run back and relock the car. Sometimes it happens twice. This also happens (though less often) with leaving my house. Now when the car beeps after I lock it, I strongly tell myself, see, you heard it beep, you heard it beep, it’s locked, you’re not dreaming you did that. That helps. But sometimes I still forget. You are me! OMG! > [@Acorns.but\_not\_Bacon](#): > > 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. 🙂 If it makes you feel any better, I have Tourette’s Syndrome but my psychiatrist tells me all the time that many of the things I attributed to my Tourette’s Syndrome are actually OCD (the two often go together). So as the thread starter and the one who used the phrase initially, I actually do have a diagnosis. And yes, it’s a pain in the friggin’ ass and often makes my life miserable. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/71 "2011-03-01T23:45:51Z")
Here’s another one: When driving, I time my breathing to passing telephone or light poles, if there are any around. I have to be inhaling as I drive past them, not exhaling. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/72 "2011-03-02T03:08:05Z")
If I hear an airplane flying over I have to check out the window and I have a little panic attack until I can hear that it’s past. It is so stupid and I hate this compulsion. I don’t do it every time; we live in Fed-ex country, I’d be standing outside all day. Just when it’s close enough to set off my inner alarms. I highlight everything I read online, and I read a LOT. This annoys people. I don’t even bother reading articles where I can’t highlight the words. ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/73 "2011-03-02T11:15:30Z")
> [@Justin\_Credible](#): > > I prefer even numbers in almost everything. The volume on the tv and on the radio has to be on an even number That’s what I came in here to say. I can’t stand having the volume on an odd number. If I try to leave it on an odd number it just eats away at my brain until I snap and turn it to an even number. I also open up the medicine cabinets when I take a shit. If they’re not open or if I’m in a bathroom that doesn’t have them, I find it hard to go. ---
**Author:** ![DWSKAMS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b3f665/32.png) [@DWSKAMS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWSKAMS)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/74 "2011-03-02T12:44:34Z")
First of all, it should be CDO (alphabetical order!) 🙂 Not only do I keep my money in order by denomination, but also by serial number. The heater vents in my car have to be centered and open evenly. They aren’t there for your convenience, don’t touch them. Don’t even think of using the sun visors. I have a coin holder in my car for nickels, dimes and quarters… They all have to be face up, all facing the same way. (For entertainment, my kids often leave the top one alone, but change the ones underneath. They like to see how long I go before I check to make sure they are all the same.) I shower and dry off the same every time (except when the missus joins me). Thanks to **Isamu** for giving words to what I’ve been doing for years “[avoiding] invisible linear projections from the corners of buildings, fences, entryways, walls.” I don’t eat M&Ms, but Skittles MUST be separated by color and eaten evenly until gone. Grouped light switches all have to be facing the same direction. The slot on the screw that holds the electrical outlet cover and switchplate in place needs to be straight up and down. On every one in the house. Every time I take a drink from a glass I have to place my thump on a seam or a mark on the glass. There was a time when some of these things really had a hold on my so I have a little bit of an idea of the problems this can cause, but having kids laugh at you day after day helps put things in perspective. Thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![KellyCriterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/75 "2011-03-02T12:51:52Z")
Before I leave my house, I always have to lightly tap the oven plates (electric stove top) to make sure they’re not on. Including the two plates that don’t work, and haven’t worked for 5 years. Even when I know I haven’t used the stove top since I last left and re-entered the house, I’ll still do it. I’ve noticed I only do this when I plan to be out of the house for at least a couple of hours, and I always tap in the same sequence. ---
**Author:** ![KellyCriterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/76 "2011-03-02T12:56:49Z")
**Ibanez** , thank you! Thank you! Thank you! The dials! _Oh how I must check those dials!!_ ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/77 "2011-03-02T13:15:06Z")
> [@KellyCriterion](#): > > **Ibanez** , thank you! Thank you! Thank you! The dials! _Oh how I must check those dials!!_ Ha ! I’m not alone. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/78 "2011-03-04T01:23:41Z")
See how I give monthly music recs [here](http://threateningloveletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Monthly%20Music%20Roundup) on my blog? Each month’s MP3s are carefully sorted into a folder that is named after the month & year in question. I don’t have a good reason for doing this, but I started to in 2006, and have ever since. And…my alarm clock is always 10 minutes fast. When I bought a new clock, I set it fast too. When there’s a power failure, I carefully reset it to make sure it’s still 10 minutes fast. And…I find it alarming if mid-series the cover artist on books or the packaging style of DVDs change. I bought season 3-4 of Angel, but haven’t been able to buy 1,2, or 5 because they’re now all in slimline cases and wouldn’t match the seasons I already have. ---
**Author:** ![wonder\_lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wonder\_lust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder_lust)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/79 "2011-03-05T23:13:07Z")
**If I’m drinking a bottled beverage and I also have a glass** , I must pour as much of the beverage into the glass as possible. There’s usually some left in the bottle, but I can’t drink it from the bottle; it must go into the glass…and the glass must be as full as possible at all times. That is to say, after a few sips from the glass, I refill from the bottle and so on until the bottle is empty. Then I can relax and enjoy. (If I dont have a glass, I can drink straight from the bottle. No problem.) \*\*Colored candies \*\*can get complicated… **Peanut M&Ms** : Never more than one in the mouth at a time. If they’re in a small bag, I open the bag and lay it on its side. I feel a few (random number) push them out of the bag. They must be swiftly assessed for runts. I eat those first. They are disgusting and must be eliminated on immediately on sight. Then, I have to even out the numbers. Let’s say I pushed out 6. 1 runt. Eat it. Doesn’t matter what color. The remaining colors are 3 oranges, 1 yellow, 1 green. Physical sorting is optional, but either way, I must eat 2 oranges to balance out the colors. I cannot eat the last orange yet. I must switch colors. It can go either way (yellow or green) depending on size. The leftover orange and the remaining M&M need to be approximately the same size. That done, it’s acceptable to either go back to the orange or continue with the remaining yellow/green. Let’s say I’ve grabbed a handful (no bag)…these will get physically sorted and eaten in such a way that I’ve evened out the numbers, sizes, and colors. Then I alternate through the colors. **Plain M&Ms** Very disappointing on their own. I prefer to eat them when mini pretzels are also available, thusly: two M&Ms of different colors are chosen for a single pretzel. One M&M is balanced on each of larger rounded holes of pretzel for pefect mouth-popping. (Sooo excited about Pretzel M&Ms, btw.) \*\*Reese’s Pieces \*\* Far superior to Peanut Butter M&Ms and so easy to eat! Runts first of course. Sizes are otherwise the same, so that’s a no brainer. I have some color issues, but I allow multiples. The process is a lot faster. **Jelly Bellies** I don’t even know. It’s more about flavor than pattern. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998/80 "2011-03-05T23:53:05Z")
> [@Fed up](#): > > I count the steps up to my front door every single damn time. I sometimes count going down also but not every time. 😕 Crap. I didn’t think I’d have anything to add to this thread. I do the same thing at work when I’m walking to the carpark at the end of the shift. 52 steps up to level 5. Now you know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-ocd-shit-i-do-go-on-list-yours/572998.md?page=5)