I used to verify employment & work/rental history for a credit reporting service and found out over time the following fact:
if I was talking to another woman and matched her accent/talking style - she gave me the information no problem. Professional tone with professional tone: we were 2 business women just doing our jobs. Casual tone with casual tone: we were old friends just doing what had to be done. But if I tried to mix - they got suspicious and it would take twice as long.
if I was talking to a man, I just had to use my southern accent and act a little helpless - and I got the info, no problem.
Men who I would tell this too would get all huffy, but it happened over and over and over again.
In the cafeteria at my workplace, there are several colors of trays: maroon, tan, gray, some rare blue ones, and some even rarer yellow ones. If I see a blue or yellow one on top of a pile, I rush over to grab it before anybody else can. Maroon trays are the default, whereas the gray and tan ones are completely unacceptable. Of course, cheating by grabbing a blue or yellow tray that is underneath some other trays is prohibited. I’ve never cheated this way, but there were a couple occasions where I had to cheat just to get a maroon tray instead of an ugly gray or tan one.
I like to eparate books and CDS by seasons and then by months (Winter=December, January, February; Spring=March, April, May; Summer=June, July August; Autumn=September, October, November). This especially applies to culinary mysteries and CD series. I recently discovered putumayo CDS, and I am in heaven.
And Autumn is always Autumn, and never “fall.” The names of the seasons should all have six letters, dammit.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve “swished” my drinks. As in, I’ll take a sip of a beverage, but rather than swallowing it immediately, I swish it around, kind of like what you’d do with mouthwash, only quicker. Then I swallow. When I’m thinking about it, I try not to do it, but my brain is under the impression that it will somehow ‘hurt’ if I just swallow a sip without swishing it.
It sucks, because it’s really horrible on the teeth.
I want an even number volume level (and yet I recognize it’s an arbitrary number–how does my TV know what increment of volume equals a “one”?), but when the remote batteries are fresh it is almost impossible to increase a level by a jump of one. It’ll jump two, not one.
You have to go up or down by a large amount and then approach an acceptable even number in small jumps to “fool” the TV.
(Unfortunately The Wife considers “27” the perfect volume number for everything, regardless of channel or program.)
Ah, okay. Haven’t actually read any of them so I don’t immediately grok why, for example, cream puffs = January, but nevermind. What works for you, works for you.
I shelve my books by spine height. That puts all the shorter ones together and thus allows me to shoehorn extra books into the bookcase by laying them on top of the others.
I always clean both my ears at the same time, a q-tip in each hand, making the same motions.
Must clean both ears the same amount of times. If, god forbid, there are only 3 q-tips, then each end of the 3rd one goes in one ear to keep things even.
I keep Listerine caps based on preference for the embossed number under the cap. Not that I collect 'em; I just discard the new cap and keep the one from the outgoing bottle if it’s a “better” number. I just prefer to start the day looking at a “23” or a “42” rather than a “51” or some-such.
I would be vaguely embarrassed if my wife ever noticed this habit.
I don’t always do this, but I do it often enough: when heating up leftovers in the microwave, I don’t let it get down to zero and have the beeper go off. Instead I stop it when the number of seconds left is a prime number.
If I touch either side of a doorway when I go through it then I have to touch the other side to balance it out. The balancing isn’t about the number of times, it’s more about pressure, so if I really hit one side then I have to touch the other side maybe 3 or 4 times. Usually it’s not a problem but every now and then I will have to go back to touch.
Lately I have developed an urge to “balance” whenever my knees touch. It’s hard to explain but I will find myself walking funny so that my knees lightly touch in an effort to get the right and left to have the same amount of … something. I know it when I feel it. The I have to thoughtfully walk so they do not touch anymore or the whole thing starts over.
See, now that’s just plain silly. Apple turnover obviously goes into the September slot, and Key Lime should move up to April. Sugar and Spice can really fit anywhere, so use it to fill the hole in March. . .
Different color trays? You are one lucky guy! In our company cafeteria, there is only one color tray, the ugly gray. If we had more variety I could play a strategy game like you do.
I don’t know why, but I thought your post was hilarious. I could see myself doing something very similar. Just don’t go crazy and start keeping a spreadsheet of your success rate getting blue and yellow trays!
When I was younger (about 10 to 12), I used to walk from home to school in a rather urban environment. I like to imagine I was in a video game level, and those manhole covers were power-up which have to step on. The distance between home and school was about a mile, so I broke into a couple of ‘zones’.
I also do the handwave thing at automatic doors now. Increasingly so.
When after listening to a piece of music (say a piano piece) for some time, I begin to hear imaginary lyrics with it.
Me three. Or four. Or whatever. I’d bet this is common enough that there’s a name for it.
I also tend to pick up sentence structure and dialect from whatever book I happen to be reading. Olde English Beowulf was an interesting time in high school.
When eating flavored candies (Skittles) I sort them by flavor and then eat them in order from least to most favorite. Yellow or green first, red always last.
And a habit that I’m not aware of anyone else having. If I’m grocery shopping and don’t know what I want for supper, I’ll grab a cooking magazine and pick something from it. I have a lot of cooking magazines.
ETA: Something I just did. When I finish a can of soda, I always stand the can on the floor and crush it from top to bottom.
