# What unusual skills do you have? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 25, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120 "2018-04-25T21:01:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/21 "2018-04-26T10:59:37Z")
I’m good at documenting processes. Fuck that: I’m damn great at documenting processes. I can even document the same process in three different formats and have the three documents match (not an unusual request when you’re dealing with a mixture of engineers, finance folk and logistics people). I make branched plans more easily than the majority of people make linear ones; I don’t ever try explaining every single branch to other people involved if there’s more than four of them. In two decades of designing plans and processes for a living, and once I realized I saw branching points other people did not, there has never been an “oops” I hadn’t covered in the aforementioned damn good documentation. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/22 "2018-04-26T11:27:46Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I can peel an orange leaving hardly any of that white stuff. nope, don’t believe you. I reckon you’re taking the pith. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/23 "2018-04-26T13:33:41Z")
My work skills: I can instantly translate any amount of money into what coins and bills are involved. I do math in my head faster than a calculator. I know all the codes for the aluminum tins my store sells individually and without bar codes. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/24 "2018-04-26T13:52:23Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I can find stuff my Wife has misplaced. > > Once, she lost her phone. It was not on so we could not just call it and search for the ring. I determined that she had used it in her car, and may have dropped it in the drive in the snow when she got home. > > I had since plowed the driveway. > > I determined where it would be in the plowed snow piles if she had indeed dropped it. I found it in about 5 minutes (intact). I’m very good at retracing a persons tracks and what they may have done. I’m sort of like Monk when it comes to that. Comes in handy. Similar to this, I can retain a lot of visual information very quickly to the point of seeming like TV detectives (Psych, Sherlock). For instance, I am walking through my office past someone with an open drawer or file, etc., my mind takes a picture of what is there. Sometime later, some times much later, someone else will be looking for an item or file or paper, I can describe for them exactly where it is. Using this skill I have convinced my spouse that I have X-ray vision, but to be fair, she suffers from “if it were a snake it would have bit you” blindness to things right in front of her. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/25 "2018-04-26T17:05:14Z")
Ballistics. Very good at hitting my aiming point with things that fly through the air – bullets, arrows, thrown balls, etc. I’m not athletic at all but I’ve always been able to throw or toss odd objects of varying densities and shapes with surprising precision. It’s instinctual, and it works with all sorts of odd projectiles. If you gave me and an Olympic shooter identical perfectly-tuned rifles, he’d almost certainly beat me ten times out of ten. But if you gave each of us random, lopsided, off-the-rack paintball guns we’d never used before, I’d probably outdo the Olympian. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/26 "2018-04-26T17:31:49Z")
I can dance like Yosemite Sam and talk like Kermit the Frog. My ex used to say being married to me was like being married to a cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/27 "2018-04-26T17:32:31Z")
I am excellent at getting all of the dishes in the dishwasher. Unless we just hosted a humungous dinner and have a ton of dishes, of course. But I can always get a couple extra sip cups, bowls, etc. into the dishwasher when my husband can’t. And they all come out clean. I’m also a master at loading up the fridge. I can get all of the weekly groceries to fit in, while still keeping older food accessible and systematically purging old food. And I can always remember where things are in the fridge. I have great spatial awareness like that. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/28 "2018-04-26T17:48:11Z")
I know when singers are going to breathe. Not that impressive, except for one thing: I know before they know. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/29 "2018-04-26T17:59:30Z")
I have Hulk strength in my hands and can twist off lids, caps, and various sundry in impressive ways. I have an uncanny sense of what time it is without having to look at a clock. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/30 "2018-04-26T18:34:08Z")
I can eat food that contains gluten. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/31 "2018-04-26T18:58:51Z")
I’m a Pinball Wizard. ---
**Author:** ![Sveltington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@Sveltington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sveltington)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/32 "2018-04-26T19:16:31Z")
I can find my way driving to a place I have never been without previously consulting a map or being giving directions. When I get to an intersection I pause for a second and just know which direction to take. This ability is hereditary, my dad had it also. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/33 "2018-04-26T20:02:53Z")
My middle daughter can make any animal her friend. Wild or domestic. She used tame wild squirrels and deer. What’s my amazing skill, you might ask? I made her and raised her. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/34 "2018-04-26T20:25:28Z")
I can predict the severity of the upcoming winter based on the behavior of squirrels. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/35 "2018-04-26T20:38:29Z")
Another spatial awareness claim. For example, going to bed, I can put a glass of water on the landing bookcase, walk across the landing to turn off lights, and then walk back past the bookcase picking up the glass of water in pitch dark. Without hesitation and accurate to millimeters. OK, I guess a lot of blind people can do this sort of thing too. But even so… j ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/36 "2018-04-26T20:48:17Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > I can [scrutineer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skating_system) ballroom dance competitions (by hand), usually fast enough to keep up with an ongoing competition. (I start falling behind at around 7 or 9 judges, which is more than anyone ever uses.) Closely related to this one, but not so much so as to be obvious - I can copy down a list of numbers that are being read to me, while simultaneously listening to an MC read a different list (that I created 15-30 minutes ago) over a microphone, and notice errors in the MC’s reading with about 75% accuracy - I don’t catch every error, but I am told that it is practically miraculous to catch any. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/37 "2018-04-26T22:01:03Z")
I can snatch 40 quarters off my forearm. I can hold the attention of 20 preschoolers for 20 minutes. I can moo well enough to make cattle think I’m one of them. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/38 "2018-04-27T02:00:36Z")
I have a talent for making balloon animals. I feel I need a mentor to go further though. Im great at general clowning. I excel at haggling. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/39 "2018-04-27T02:51:08Z")
I can wiggle my ears, and wrap gifts with amazing skill. (my family says that gift wrapping is my secret ninja skill). And I can splice a broken 35mm film, rethread the projector, and restart within 30 seconds after the breakage– It’s a bit longer if it was a night scene in an anamorphic-lens movie (e.g. Cinemascope). In those conditions, the frame lines are all but invisible and one must use a frame counter to start from some good known frame line several feet away from the break in order to correctly splice on a frame line. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120/40 "2018-04-27T04:01:53Z")
**pullin** wins this thread. That is some awesome and unusual shit, there. Fucking Sea Tractor Shit!\* Move it Eight Inches!\* Shit, man! That’s 2/3 of my dick length! I can’t figure that, even at arm’s length! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-skills-do-you-have/813120.md?page=3)