# Stupid things you do when you're distracted **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089 "2005-04-19T17:25:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/21 "2005-04-20T01:53:39Z")
If someone has told me happy birthday, I’ll also say “Happy birthday!” if I’m not really paying attention. Stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/22 "2005-04-20T02:21:16Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > **The Sausage Creature** , I Like your username. > (and for a split second I read it as ‘The Sausage Centre’ which I thought must be a really cool place) Thanks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/23 "2005-04-20T02:30:29Z")
I do that kind of thing a lot. I’ve never forgotten to wear the proper lower body garment, but sometimes I have shirt issues. I often wear two shirts, like a sleeveless top under an open button-down shirt or a t-shirt under a zip-up sweatshirt. I once forgot to put on my t-shirt first. Got to work, started unzipping my sweatshirt…hey, wait! I see bra straps and skin. Sometimes I will go off to the bathroom to do what one does in there, glance at myself in the mirror, and then go right back out again without doing what I intended, and then wonder why I still have to pee. I try to turn on the TV with the DVD player’s remote control. I’ll go to put on my sunglasses and realize that they’re already on my face. I’m easily distracted. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/24 "2005-04-20T02:31:16Z")
> [@DarkSideoftheFloyd](#): > > If someone has told me happy birthday, I’ll also say “Happy birthday!” if I’m not really paying attention. > > Stupid. I often do a similar thing. Several times in my life, when a waiter or waitress tells me to enjoy my meal, I’ll say, “You too!” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/25 "2005-04-20T02:43:08Z")
When I have to write the date on my birthday, I often write the year I was born instead of the current year. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/26 "2005-04-20T05:47:31Z")
Now I remembered what I do when distracted. I have, in a state of barely-lucid just-awoke-at-dawn delerium, put on underwear. On top of the underwear I was wearing to sleep. :smack: I have even done this when fully awake and changing my clothes on numerous occasions. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/27 "2005-04-20T05:58:06Z")
I did salt my girlfriend’s coffee a few months ago. In my defense, she keeps salt and sugar in identical containers. Although the sugar is coffee sugar and thus brown … And if I’m driving to somewhere that’s not one of my usual destinations but via a road I do commonly use to go elsewhere, and talking, I’ll just keep going on autopilot til my passenger asks where the hell we’re going … ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/28 "2005-04-20T07:36:05Z")
**Stupid things you do when you’re distracted.** - lose my glasses and it’s a real bitch finding them without my glasses! - forget to set the hand brakes in my car - not flush the toilet (yeah it’s disgusting) - not pay a bill by its due date - set my VCR incorrectly (wrong day!) plus lots more but I seem to be distracted right now. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/29 "2005-04-20T08:16:41Z")
On Mon and Wed I go to school by subway. On Tues and Thurs I go to work by bus. Several times on Tuesday I have walked all the way to the subway station before … :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089/30 "2005-04-20T14:58:35Z")
> [@Caricci](#): > > When I have to write the date on my birthday, I often write the year I was born instead of the current year. Me too! My birthday was April 16th, and I had to work that day. Every document nearly became a blast from the past. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-you-do-when-youre-distracted/300089.md?page=1)