I have to fill up the cat’s water dish under the faucet while counting to twelve. Even if it overflows, I can tip out the excess, but I have to count to twelve while running the water.
If there’s a stack of newspapers and magazines on a table in the waiting room of wherever, I have to sort and arrange them in categories, in neat stacks - all newspapers, all sports magazines, all Family Circles, all parenting magazines. So they aren’t all mixed up together. (only if I’m alone, or there’s one other person in the room already occupied with something). I did this yesterday at the garage where I took my car in, and a good thing too, as I was there for four and a half hours and I read every word of everything on that table. :mad:)
I do that plus the large bills have to be on the outside of my wallet and all oriented with the heads pointing up. I don’t consider that OCD except for the orientation, since it makes it easier to find the correct sized bill.
I also try to pay either the exact amount or whatever minimizes the number of coins I get in my change. For instance, if the amount is $1.63, then I might give them $1.78, so I get a dime and a nickel in my change. This means I never have more 4 pennies in my pocket or more than a dollar in change.
In the days before cellphones and Ezpass, I used to dump quarters I got in my ash tray in my car for phone calls and tolls.
While reading things online, I constantly click and highlight words. Drives my wife nuts. I also curl my toes as I pass light poles or power poles in the car. I don’t do it all the time, but often. It’s sort of a rythm thing.
Another one I thought of today, while opening a new box of cereal. I always open the bag on the same side, so I can put the box away facing the same direction. After all, it’s important that it faces towards the bowl when I take it back out of the pantry and put it on the counter!
But that’s not stupid OCD shit. That’s OCD shit which serves a purpose. I might start doing that myself. A half a second saved is a half a second earned.
Wow, can I EVER identify with THAT! I spent 4 hours hunting down a discrepancy of (literally!) 1¢ on my monthly checking statement. And yes, the fault was mine, not the bank’s. I am so totally grateful for online checking so I can verify my balance daily.
It’s also safer, when you open your wallet, onlookers only see small bills and have no clue how much more you MIGHT have in there. They call it a Detroit Wad when someone pulls out a wad of bills with a Hundred on the outside, and most likely all Ones hidden underneath. But safety dictates that you keep the One outside, hiding any larger denominations inside.
Now, what I find funny is when the amount is $1.78, and I hand the clerk $2 plus three pennies, she’ll enter two dollars as the currency, and the register shows 22¢ as the change. So she’ll count out 22¢ and then look confused at the three pennies I gave her, and then hand it back with the change, 2 dimes and 5 pennies. And I’d ask her, why do you think I gave you 3 pennies for? Not a clue! Even when I tell her that it’s so I’d get a nickel back instead of 5 pennies. And she’s STILL confused.
Love reading these stories and I keep wondering – how did you all acquire these traits and why don’t I have any of them? You are all so interesting / endearing / amusing – let me count the ways! Although I’ve always thought I’m an ‘unconscious’ type, maybe my lacking in this area is because I’m an only child or because my sign is Capricorn ??
If I’m filling a cup with a drink at a fountain, like at a fast food place, where you fill your own, I never grab the first plastic lid. I always lift several, and grab one at random that hasn’t been “exposed”.
I always count steps on a stairwell, even one I’ve been up and down thousands of times.
Razor on the right, toothbrush on the left. Home, hotel… anywhere.
