# Stupid thing I keep doing. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 9, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846 "2010-05-09T23:30:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846/1 "2010-05-09T23:30:54Z")
Today I was cleaning out my car. I picked up various things that weren’t trash and put them in my pocket. Later I went to the store, picked up some stuff, and got ready to leave. I reached into my pocket to grab my car keys and holy crap they were hot as I dropped them onto the floor. How the hell could my car keys get that hot, did my lighter somehow ignite without me noticing? A bit of further investigation showed the culprit. a nine volt battery, that was also very very hot, I had absently-mindedly thrown in my pocket during the cleaning. My keys must have landed perfectly to create a nice short circuit. At least it didn’t blow up or anything. The stupid thing is I have done this at least 5 times. And once before with this same stupid battery. After it all happened I remembered that I had reached into my pocket and found the very hot battery before, which I dropped onto the car floor, which is how it got there to be put into my pocket this morning. :smack: The thing is now in the garbage. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846/2 "2010-05-09T23:45:53Z")
Next time, throw in a random handful of transistors and diodes - maybe they will spontaneously assemble into a radio or something. You’re lucky it was a conventional battery. Try this with a rechargeable PP3 and you could end up with a pocket full of molten metal blobs (or it could just go boom). Some brands of PP3 come with a little plastic button over the + terminal to prevent accidental shorting during storage. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846/3 "2010-05-09T23:50:58Z")
Every. Time. When I get in the car to go somewhere, I put my house keys in the storage area between the seats. My house keys are bulky, and this way I don’t have to carry them around in my pocket once I get to where I’m going. Every. Time. I come home, get out, lock the car, open the trunk to retrieve whatever, and then have to re-unlock the driver door to go back in and get my house keys. Every. Time. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846/4 "2010-05-10T01:05:54Z")
I wear a uniform to work. Part of that uniform is a beret. Which I constantly misplace. Seriously, I do it so often, you would think anyone with half a brain would start designating a spot for it. Nope, not me. I would rather be late fir work periodically because I can’t remember where I took it off. ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846/5 "2010-05-10T01:15:48Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > I wear a uniform to work. Part of that uniform is a beret. > > Which I constantly misplace. > > Seriously, I do it so often, you would think anyone with half a brain would start designating a spot for it. Nope, not me. I would rather be late fir work periodically because I can’t remember where I took it off. I do the same thing with my work phone. I used to have a place for it, but got lazier as time went on and left it in different places. The bad part is that I turn it off about 30 minutes after work ends and let it go to voicemail all night, since my number serves as the call-in and leave a message if you aren’t coming number. That means I can’t call it in the morning and find it, I will just get my voicemail. Brendon Small ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846/6 "2010-05-10T01:17:16Z")
To the OP: [You’re not the only one.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=513273) ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846/7 "2010-05-10T11:50:30Z")
I sometimes use my landline to call my mobile when I can’t find it. Later that same day - ooh a missed call … I wonder who that’s from? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846/8 "2010-05-11T00:36:08Z")
I got a new car a couple months ago and I always forget to hit the button on my door to unlock the gas cap door or I hit the other button and unlock the trunk. Every time I get to the pump I notice the gas cap door is shut walk around the car and hit the button. Every time… Every time I unlock the trunk I get back there and I opened the gas cap! I’ll figure it out sooner or later… ---
**Author:** ![may\_be\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-thing-i-keep-doing/538846/9 "2010-05-11T01:15:14Z")
I misplace my cell phone ten times a day every day. When I lay it down, ten minutes pass and I cannot for the life of me remember where I sat it. I always have it vibrate too, so it takes me forever to find it.