# What stupid thing do you do every time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582 "2016-02-19T21:29:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/41 "2016-02-20T14:02:31Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > I save time in the mornings by using my landline to call my cellphone to locate it. Later in the day I notice I’ve had a missed call - who can that be from? Me too. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/42 "2016-02-20T14:33:22Z")
Here’s one I did quite a bit back in college. When I was taking Chemistry I had a periodic table taped to the wall over my desk. I can’t tell you how many times I looked at it trying to figure out what day it was. We get caller ID on our TV when the phone rings. Sometimes when I am working in the kitchen and the phone rings, I’ll run into the other room to look at the TV to see who’s calling, instead of just picking up the phone in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/43 "2016-02-20T14:48:27Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > You know you can put them on and stand there and memorize your list. Or read the one thing you couldn’t remember from when you wrote it. Then put the glasses back on the rack. You don’t have to buy them. What is this memorize you speak of? Yesterday, WITH glasses AND a list I still forgot/missed the chicken broth. I’m only 55. For those that are laundry challenged - Set a countdown timer on your phone. That works for me. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/44 "2016-02-20T14:50:06Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Here’s one I did quite a bit back in college. When I was taking Chemistry I had a periodic table taped to the wall over my desk. I can’t tell you how many times I looked at it trying to figure out what day it was. “Copper”. Now that is funny. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/45 "2016-02-20T15:08:04Z")
I never take notes. I memorize everything, including changes, which once in a while may make me show up at the wrong place at the wrong time. :smack: Awkward moments, which never convince me to jot things down though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/46 "2016-02-20T15:14:32Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > BUT…every time I plug in (a) my Kindle, (b) my phone, I first get the thing, the plug thing, in upside down, and it won’t go in. So I turn it over, and it still won’t go in. So I turn it back over, the way I had it the first time, and voila, it goes in. I also do this with new USB drives. Eventually I learn what’s on top. But with the Kindle and the phone, I never learn. > > I probably don’t do that every single time and it’s selection bias, but I do it a lot. I just got a new phone that has the USB type C plug. There’s no wrong way to plug it in! Why couldn’t that have been invented years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/47 "2016-02-20T15:27:22Z")
I’ve never done the “checking phone for e-mail to self” thing, but I have done something very similar. Back when I was in grad school, the department had a number of e-mail addresses set up to be mailing lists: There was one to send to everyone in the department, one to send to everyone in the relativity and astrophysics groups, etc. And of course, every one of them that I ever had any reason to use was one that included me on it. So I’d send out an e-mail to, say, relastro, announcing the topic of the seminar I was going to present next week… and _bing_, my computer tells me I have a new e-mail. I wonder what it is? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/48 "2016-02-20T15:30:16Z")
Oh, and I think that the upside-down thing is somehow inherent in the nature of USB plugs. But if it helps, most USB plugs have the USB icon (the trident-shaped thing) embossed or engraved on one side. That side is usually up. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/49 "2016-02-20T15:35:36Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > For those that are laundry challenged - Set a countdown timer on your phone. That works for me. Cell phone countdown alarms are nice. I use them for boiling eggs, various cooking, timing laundry, etc. …and every time one goes off, I’m startled. Beep-beep-beep. BWAH! The house is burning down! There’s a phone call! What? … Wait, never mind. Hang on, there must be some way on here to set thing the alarm sound to “smooth, soothing jazz”. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/50 "2016-02-20T15:36:56Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I put washed clothes in the dryer, turn it on and then forget about them. When I go to get them out they are all wrinkly from sitting in the dryer so I turn the dryer on to fluff them up and get some of the wrinkles out. Then I forget about them again. I have done this more times than I can count, sometimes fluffing them 3 times probably 4 on occasion. I used to do that with the tea kettle on the gas stove. Man, the number of kettles I have ruined by cooking them dry. I was very glad when I got a water cooker that switches itself off. For you, I recommend [this](http://www.leifheit.de/uploads/tx_syleifheitprodukte/4006501226006_02.jpg) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/51 "2016-02-20T15:45:15Z")
In the Netherlands, everyone pays with an electronic debit card. It requires putting the card in an electronic terminal device, and punching in a four digit bank code, followed by “enter” About half of the terminals first ask you what kind of card you have, and to press enter after your choice. The others just can deal with both types. So me and everyone I know just punches in their bank code twice. It’s too much trouble to see how that particular terminal works. It’s easier just to punch in the whole shebang twice. (Fun fact: in Turkey, recently different banks issued different paying terminals. [Even the tiniest store offered 6 different debit devices on the counter](http://aneace.blogspot.nl/2006/05/why-merchants-in-some-countries-have.html)) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/52 "2016-02-20T15:49:26Z")
The number one stupid thing I have done for many years and just recently figured it out. Every time I went poop I needed to get the plunger out to finish the job, plunge and reflush. I even bought a new toilet and had the same problem. I just figured out I was hitting the flush handle too rapidly and not allowing a full flush. Just another example of rushing. I cringe every time I think about how many years I dealt with a non existent problem. I have considered counseling over my rushing issues. I am always in a hurry even when I am going no where or really have nothing special to do. My rushing actually helped in my 40 something years as a mechanic because I developed systems for everything I did. In my personnal life it is a disaster. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/53 "2016-02-20T16:09:17Z")
I’ve had my car for seven years. Every single morning when I go to unlock my driver’s side door I turn the key the wrong way. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/54 "2016-02-21T04:19:54Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > … > > I constantly, every time, always…settle back in a comfy place, open a book…and realize I didn’t switch to my reading glasses. So I gotta get up again and… Phoomph. Um - How expensive are reading glasses\*? Could you maybe get a pair for only the chair in which you read? Put them next to the pen(s) and pad you have, of course, pre-positioned there. - - NO! I will _ **NOT!** _ concede DEFEAT! NO! my eyes are just _FINE!_ ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/55 "2016-02-21T04:44:48Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Sometimes when I drink, I like to head into the kitchen and see what I can cook up. When I do, I often wake up the next morning with the roof of my mouth burned to a crisp. Because apparently, when I cook while buzzed, I can’t be bothered to cool off the boiling stew on the stove that I’m taste testing. Not necessarily when I drink, and less frequent as the years go on (so not “every time”), but I have burnt my tongue enough times in my life to wonder why it’s continues to be a problem. What I do **every** time is reach for something too fast and misjudge the top of the drawer/cubby/container in which it is currently housed, invariably scraping a knuckle or the top of a finger or two. Also, if I have to take a leak, I’ll walk into a public restroom, not really paying attention, proceed to do a double-take, wondering if I accidentally walked into the women’s restroom (which I don’t think I’ve ever done) and then realize that I’m standing in front of a urinal. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/56 "2016-02-21T07:59:47Z")
My front door has a double-lock on it. If it’s on single-lock mode and my right hand is occupied with shopping or something, I turn the key with my left hand, anti-clockwise, and double-lock instead of opening it. I do this almost every time. ---
**Author:** ![codgerone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@codgerone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codgerone)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/57 "2016-02-21T08:13:35Z")
First thing to do every morning is to put the kettle on for tea. Around 50% of the time I put the water in then forget to switch the damn thing on. I’m getting old. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/58 "2016-02-21T12:28:03Z")
I suppose, part of the issue of my being terminally untidy and lazy in almost all things – but, I keep on my computer desk, assorted stuff which I reckon I’m likely to need; and said stuff piles up, with much of it burying much else of it. A particular problem here, involving magnifying-glasses: I have two, and when I want one, both always seem to be, thus, deeply buried. I see ways of addressing the magnifying-glass scenario, but never do anything about it. > [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > I always assume that north is in front of me, east is right, and west is left. I get lost a lot. I once had a work colleague who claimed to genuinely believe that this _was_ how things worked – north and the other points constantly changed, according to what direction one was facing in. The rest of us tried our hardest to explain that she was in error, but she wasn’t having any. One guy commented to her, “I’d hate to get lost with you”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/59 "2016-02-21T14:21:16Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Um - > How expensive are reading glasses\*? > … > > - > - NO! I will _ **NOT!** _ concede DEFEAT! NO! my eyes are just _FINE!_ Or just do what I mostly do. Get a tablet and read on that with the text size turned way up. And how come it’s so darn dark in here? Doesn’t anybody make bright light bulbs any more? Damn kids! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582/60 "2016-02-21T20:40:22Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I put washed clothes in the dryer, turn it on and then forget about them. When I go to get them out they are all wrinkly from sitting in the dryer so I turn the dryer on to fluff them up and get some of the wrinkles out. Then I forget about them again. I have done this more times than I can count, sometimes fluffing them 3 times probably 4 on occasion. OMG! YES! I’m actually doing this right now. There’s probably one pair of pants and a shirt in there. They’ve been tumbling around since yesterday. I’ve added a dryer sheet to remediate the inevitable wrinkles that develop at some point during the several hour event. I’ve come to the conclusion that the soothing dryer noises deactivate my\* “you really should get some work done”\* stimulus. Of course I’m doing something. Hear the sound of that dryer? It is maddening at times. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stupid-thing-do-you-do-every-time/746582.md?page=4)