What are your small compulsive behaviors?
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Note: real OCD is a nasty problem and this thread is not intended to make light of the suffering of those with that it any other disorder.
Do you all have things which must be "just so" or it drives you to distraction? I do. Plenty in fact.
One is that all shirts on hangers must face the same direction (doesn't matter which, there just must be uniformity). Another is that keys on keyrings must be sorted by size and all facing the same way.
What're yours?
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@benjamin-hall Volumes must be an even number or a multiple of 5.
I'm only listing one because if I start enumerating my neuroses I'm likely to get neurotic about it...
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@e4tmyl33t said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall Volumes must be an even number or a multiple of 5.
I'm only listing one because if I start enumerating my neuroses I'm likely to get neurotic about it...
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0. When I had an alarm clock that had a 7 minute snooze it was quite aggravating.
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@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
One is that all shirts on hangers must face the same direction (doesn't matter which, there just must be uniformity). Another is that keys on keyrings must be sorted by size and all facing the same way.
OMG now that you mention it, my own key ring is sorted peculiarly.
After the clip unit comes the car key. Then in accordance to usage order are;
- office key, teeth right
- house key, teeth left
- utility access key (it's really large), teeth left
- secondary house key, teeth left
This so that removing the ring I have instant access to either the car or secondary house key, and when locking up the office it's the next key in.
When arriving at the office, removing the keys from my car the office key is first off the line as well.
Arriving at secondary house I can rely on the required key being next from the clip.
Once in a while when I need to use the utility access key I just pull the largest one while releasing the clip.
I rarely need to use the house key.
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@e4tmyl33t said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall Volumes must be an even number or a multiple of 5.
I'm only listing one because if I start enumerating my neuroses I'm likely to get neurotic about it...
Volumes, temperatures, everything. My oldest is the same way.
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I cannot wear shirts with freshly washed hair. It has to be completely dry before I put one on. Same goes for resting my head on a pillow.
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I used to have many more I guess I've grown out of them.
All bills have to be facing the same way in the same orientation.
This is probably particularly entertaining when you are pulling them out of a g-string.
Or so I've heard.
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@karla said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
All bills have to be facing the same way in the same orientation.
In my high school retail job I had this total bitch of a manager berate me every time she saw a bill not oriented consistently. Like paging me to the office in the middle of my helping a customer just to complain to me about it.
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I need to have every bill in my wallet ordered by value.
I prefer to have them loose in my pocket than having them unordered in the wallet
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@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
Let's see:
✔One is that all shirts on hangers must face the same direction (doesn't matter which, there just must be uniformity).
✔Another is that keys on keyrings must be sorted by size and all facing the same way.
All laundry / linen needs to be folded "The One True Way"…No, I don't want your help, you'll just fuck it up! and I've got the cats for "help".
EVERYTHING in my work cube has it's place. Shit, don't misalign my pens/pencils/post-its™, well, anything.
My winter sidewalks must be so clean, the only danger from them is from sodium overdose if you eat off of them. ( I may cry if once I'm done, we get a light dusting.)
…and there's so much more…
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@karla said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
✔All bills have to be facing the same way in the same orientation.
@jarry said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
✔ I need to have every bill in my wallet ordered by value.
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@e4tmyl33t said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall Volumes must be an even number or a multiple of 5.
True on the television. On the car stereo they have to be even numbers.
When there's a hall light with a switch at each end of the hall, both switches have to be "down" for off. Even though the light is also off with both switches "up", this upsets the fabric of reality.
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There's a bug with Windows 10's feature to display taskbar entries only on the monitor the window is on that can result in multiple windows appearing active at once (one per monitor) and the way to fix it is to click an empty area of the taskbar and then refocus the window you were in. So now I have a habit of doing that absentmindedly, sometimes repeatedly for no reason.
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@da-doctah said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@e4tmyl33t said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall Volumes must be an even number or a multiple of 5.
True on the television. On the car stereo they have to be even numbers.
I was under impression they were talking about liquid containers?
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@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
One is that all shirts on hangers must face the same direction (doesn't matter which, there just must be uniformity).
Ha. Nope, mine have to be a certain way around. And so do my wife's, but she does them the opposite way to me. Imagine the fun this causes. Actually not much, since she usually just leaves them on the bed for me to hang up [polo shirts in this case, not ironed ones, which I would indeed have to take off and re-hang], and if I'm hanging up hers I try to remember to hang them the opposite way.
We both can be pretty rigid about things, but in most cases we've agreed to avoid conflict by demarcation, and the principle that whoever's doing a particular activity gets to do things their way. So the kitchen is usually my domain, but if she stacks the dishwasher I don't complain about the way she packs it. She usually does the laundry, but if I do it she doesn't complain about my sorting policy. Mind you, it took us a while and several arguments to get to this point :)
Of course, there are also innumerable things that we've worked out compromises on that we're both happy with, or that we don't care strongly about in the first place. I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression.
Back on topic... I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the "which way to hang the toilet paper" debate yet. I used to have a strict policy on this, but I have grown more relaxed on it over the years. I still have a definite preference, but I no longer feel any urge to take it down and re-hang it if it's the wrong way around.
I can't stand to have unread email numbers showing up anywhere except the main inbox. This is particularly annoying because if you cancel a draft email in Outlook, it puts it in Deleted Items but doesn't mark it as read (how can it not be read when you were the one writing it?). So then I have to go and find it and click on it to make it read. Same with my ISP's webmail, I have to go and click on everything to mark it read before I delete it so that I don't have the number of unread items showing up next to my Trash folder.
Another is that keys on keyrings must be sorted by size and all facing the same way.
They do all have to face the same way. Mine are sorted by functional group first and then approximately by size, but with modifications for usage - so the first key is for the front door security screen and the second one is the door itself, even though the security screen key is slightly smaller, because I use the screen door key first.
Also, you bastard, you just made me realise that the shed door key is facing the wrong way around. That's going to irritate me all day (until I forget it).
@da-doctah said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
When there's a hall light with a switch at each end of the hall, both switches have to be "down" for off. Even though the light is also off with both switches "up", this upsets the fabric of reality.
:hatred: Up is the only true off! Fortunately I don't actually have any lights with multiple switches, otherwise I'm sure this would constantly be driving me bonkers.
(Are light switches there normally up-is-on? Here it's normally up-is-off, though of course either is possible.)
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@scarlet_manuka said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
Back on topic... I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the "which way to hang the toilet paper" debate yet.
Because there's only one answer
@scarlet_manuka said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
(Are light switches there normally up-is-on? Here it's normally up-is-off, though of course either is possible.)
I always assumed light switches are like USB ports - no matter which direction you try first, you always got it wrong.
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@scarlet_manuka said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
she stacks the dishwasher I don't complain about the way she packs it.
Oh grief, I forgot about that one...
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@scarlet_manuka said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
(Are light switches there normally up-is-on? Here it's normally up-is-off, though of course either is possible.)
Every building I've been in has had flipped up be on, unless it was double-switched like mentioned.
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@gąska said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@scarlet_manuka said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
Back on topic... I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the "which way to hang the toilet paper" debate yet.
Because there's only one answer
@scarlet_manuka said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
(Are light switches there normally up-is-on? Here it's normally up-is-off, though of course either is possible.)
I always assumed light switches are like USB ports - no matter which direction you try first, you always got it wrong.
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@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0. When I had an alarm clock that had a 7 minute snooze it was quite aggravating.
You'll think I'm a monster, but I have the opposite compulsion. Alarms I have set in my phone (most inactive): 6:31, 6:53, 7:01, 7:11 (very convenient), 7:23, 7:42, 7:51, 8:01, 8:29, 8:41, 9:01, 9:11, 11:38, 12:10 (woah), 12:58.
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@zecc said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0. When I had an alarm clock that had a 7 minute snooze it was quite aggravating.
You'll think I'm a monster, but I have the opposite compulsion. Alarms I have set in my phone (most inactive): 6:31, 6:53, 7:01, 7:11 (very convenient), 7:23, 7:42, 7:51, 8:01, 8:29, 8:41, 9:01, 9:11, 11:38, 12:10 (woah), 12:58.
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@da-doctah said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
When there's a hall light with a switch at each end of the hall, both switches have to be "down" for off. Even though the light is also off with both switches "up", this upsets the fabric of reality.
Agreed
@scarlet_manuka said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I can't stand to have unread email numbers showing up anywhere except the main inbox. This is particularly annoying because if you cancel a draft email in Outlook, it puts it in Deleted Items but doesn't mark it as read (how can it not be read when you were the one writing it?)
Agreed.
@e4tmyl33t said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
Volumes must be an even number or a multiple of 5.
My ex used to have this with her car stereo. I used to set it to the closest prime whenever I noticed.
Shortly after we broke up, I got a car whose stereo only worked on even numbers. If it was on 12 and you pressed up once it would go straight to 14. I used this to try to convince her we should swap cars
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@tsaukpaetra said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@zecc said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0. When I had an alarm clock that had a 7 minute snooze it was quite aggravating.
You'll think I'm a monster, but I have the opposite compulsion. Alarms I have set in my phone (most inactive): 6:31, 6:53, 7:01, 7:11 (very convenient), 7:23, 7:42, 7:51, 8:01, 8:29, 8:41, 9:01, 9:11, 11:38, 12:10 (woah), 12:58.
That ordering! I hate you right now.
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Seriously, screw you!
Edit: fuck. The 7:00 am alarm on Saturdays is out of place from a time of day point of view.
Also I'm pretty sure the spacings' off by a few pixels, but not even I am that much of a stickler.
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Aligning on-screen windows to the edge of the screen if they end up in a corner. A pixel or two away from the edge, or a fraction outside the screen, won’t do — it needs to be up in the corner exactly.
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I wash the dishes in exactly same order every time.
Ingredients on a sandwitch must be stacked in correct order or I won't eat it.
There's one correct way of cutting a tomato. Tomatos cut the wrong way are less tasty and generally better avoided.
I eat dinner at the same time every working day. Even one minute late annoys me and scheduling a meeting for that hour leaves me furious for whole day.
During weekends I don't care about that at all.If left undisturbed I can spend days fixing code style and naming things properly in projects under me.
There's more, of course.
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@the_quiet_one said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@karla said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
All bills have to be facing the same way in the same orientation.
In my high school retail job I had this total bitch of a manager berate me every time she saw a bill not oriented consistently. Like paging me to the office in the middle of my helping a customer just to complain to me about it.
That's an awful boss.
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@gurth said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
Aligning on-screen windows to the edge of the screen if they end up in a corner. A pixel or two away from the edge, or a fraction outside the screen, won’t do — it needs to be up in the corner exactly.
The vertical axis is handled for you, just drag it too high off the top of the scren and Windows automagically teleports it down to keep it within arm's reach, pixel perfect every time. Unless you have another monitor up there, then you're just screwed.
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@karla said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
All bills have to be facing the same way in the same orientation.
Yes, I do this too, plus sorted together (e.g. all the fives, then tens, etc.) but primarily because the bank gets upset when we take them several thousand dollars in cash and its not sorted like that.
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@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
One is that all shirts on hangers must face the same direction (doesn't matter which, there just must be uniformity).
Hah! My wife has this, and I think there's even a way they're supposed to face. I couldn't care less so stuff is always hung up randomly. She has mostly gotten over this issue since the alternative is for her to hang stuff up in the closet (which is on my side of the bed, so I pretty much always end up doing it).
Back when I played baseball I had a very precise routine for stepping into the batter's box. Get my feet set, make sure my cup was correctly positioned, tap the outside corner of the plate with the bat and drag it across to the inside corner, hold the bat up vertically in front of me towards the pitcher and then get my arms back ready to hit.
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@karla said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@the_quiet_one said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@karla said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
All bills have to be facing the same way in the same orientation.
In my high school retail job I had this total bitch of a manager berate me every time she saw a bill not oriented consistently. Like paging me to the office in the middle of my helping a customer just to complain to me about it.
That's an awful boss.
She was a miserable person all around. Like she knew she had an abrasive personality and figured it was easier to just be wretched about it rather than improve her life.
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@the_quiet_one said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@karla said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@the_quiet_one said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@karla said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
All bills have to be facing the same way in the same orientation.
In my high school retail job I had this total bitch of a manager berate me every time she saw a bill not oriented consistently. Like paging me to the office in the middle of my helping a customer just to complain to me about it.
That's an awful boss.
She was a miserable person all around. Like she knew she had an abrasive personality and figured it was easier to just be wretched about it rather than improve her life.
Misery loves company. For people like that, they are the only constant in all their miserable relationships.
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@lb_ said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
The vertical axis is handled for you, just drag it too high off the top of the scren and Windows automagically teleports it down
I would like to see Windows do that on my machine. Or well, no, I wouldn’t because it would mean I had installed Windows on it. But macOS lightly snaps windows to screen edges, other windows, and the top of the Dock these days, which makes it much easier.
In any case I have had this minor compulsion for something like 25 years, long before the OSes I use(d) tried to do these kinds of things for you.
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@lb_ said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@gurth said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
Aligning on-screen windows to the edge of the screen if they end up in a corner. A pixel or two away from the edge, or a fraction outside the screen, won’t do — it needs to be up in the corner exactly.
The vertical axis is handled for you, just drag it too high off the top of the scren and Windows automagically teleports it down to keep it within arm's reach, pixel perfect every time. Unless you have another monitor up there, then you're just screwed.
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@tsaukpaetra said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@zecc said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0. When I had an alarm clock that had a 7 minute snooze it was quite aggravating.
You'll think I'm a monster, but I have the opposite compulsion. Alarms I have set in my phone (most inactive): 6:31, 6:53, 7:01, 7:11 (very convenient), 7:23, 7:42, 7:51, 8:01, 8:29, 8:41, 9:01, 9:11, 11:38, 12:10 (woah), 12:58.
Why aren’t these sorted chronologically?! That’s awful!
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@zecc said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
Seriously, screw you!
Edit: fuck. The 7:00 am alarm on Saturdays is out of place from a time of day point of view.
Also I'm pretty sure the spacings' off by a few pixels, but not even I am that much of a stickler.
THANK YOU
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@kt_ said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@tsaukpaetra said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@zecc said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0. When I had an alarm clock that had a 7 minute snooze it was quite aggravating.
You'll think I'm a monster, but I have the opposite compulsion. Alarms I have set in my phone (most inactive): 6:31, 6:53, 7:01, 7:11 (very convenient), 7:23, 7:42, 7:51, 8:01, 8:29, 8:41, 9:01, 9:11, 11:38, 12:10 (woah), 12:58.
Why aren’t these sorted chronologically?! That’s awful!
They are ordered in the order they were created. I could have them sorted chronologically, but where's the fun in that?
Edit: here, official version:
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@tsaukpaetra said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@kt_ said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@tsaukpaetra said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@zecc said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0. When I had an alarm clock that had a 7 minute snooze it was quite aggravating.
You'll think I'm a monster, but I have the opposite compulsion. Alarms I have set in my phone (most inactive): 6:31, 6:53, 7:01, 7:11 (very convenient), 7:23, 7:42, 7:51, 8:01, 8:29, 8:41, 9:01, 9:11, 11:38, 12:10 (woah), 12:58.
Why aren’t these sorted chronologically?! That’s awful!
They are ordered in the order they were created. I could have them sorted chronologically, but where's the fun in that?
Edit: here, official version:
Thank you, my life just got a little bit better!
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@kt_ said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@tsaukpaetra said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@kt_ said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@tsaukpaetra said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@zecc said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0. When I had an alarm clock that had a 7 minute snooze it was quite aggravating.
You'll think I'm a monster, but I have the opposite compulsion. Alarms I have set in my phone (most inactive): 6:31, 6:53, 7:01, 7:11 (very convenient), 7:23, 7:42, 7:51, 8:01, 8:29, 8:41, 9:01, 9:11, 11:38, 12:10 (woah), 12:58.
Why aren’t these sorted chronologically?! That’s awful!
They are ordered in the order they were created. I could have them sorted chronologically, but where's the fun in that?
Edit: here, official version:
Thank you, my life just got a little bit better!
I live to help.
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I'm not really OCD about very much. My particularities are mainly because I feel like I've figured out the best way to do something.
I am, however, bothered by the fact that the key to lock my front door turns one way to lock the deadbolt and the other way to lock the knob. Same key, same lock set. I actually tried taking the knob apart to see if I could reverse the locking mechanism, but I gave up and put it back together again, fully convinced that it wasn't possible. Still I'm tempted to take it apart again and try again, because it's just so wrong...
I mentioned it to my wife and she said she was glad that she wasn't the only person who was bothered by it.
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@e4tmyl33t said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
Volumes must be an even number or a multiple of 5.
@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0.
I typically do that, but I'm not having an aneurysm if somebody else sets it and it's not... or if something says to boil for 11-13 minutes.
@da-doctah said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
On the car stereo they have to be even numbers.
My wife's car has vertical lines instead of numbers. Due to the way the LED display is, they go like || || || ||, and I tend to prefer an even number of vertical segments, but I can still live with an odd number.
@karla said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
All bills have to be facing the same way in the same orientation.
@jarry said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I need to have every bill in my wallet ordered by value.
@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
shirts on hangers must face the same direction (doesn't matter which, there just must be uniformity)
Well, yeah. It's just easier to keep them organized that way.
And the hanger has to open toward the back of the closet, so that it can be lifted in and out without awkwardly pushing it back and then bringing it under... like... ugh, here I made a thing because it's hard to describe.
(I don't care especially much if the item of clothing is forward or backward on the hanger... I usually put them the same way, but it's not worth the effort to correct it, and I'll put the item of clothing into the closet backward before I'll put the hanger onto the hanging rod backward.)
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@scarlet_manuka said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
(Are light switches there normally up-is-on? Here it's normally up-is-off, though of course either is possible.)
I think up is on is more common and it's the one that I'm more familiar with (and prefer).
What is evil though is when they install 3-way switches so that 2 switches control the same light and the "on" state is when both switches in the same position -- that should be "off". The "on" state should be one switch up and the other switch down.
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@zecc said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@tsaukpaetra said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@zecc said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@benjamin-hall said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
I have this with timer durations and alarm times. Must be in 5 minute increments and end with 5 or 0. When I had an alarm clock that had a 7 minute snooze it was quite aggravating.
You'll think I'm a monster, but I have the opposite compulsion. Alarms I have set in my phone (most inactive): 6:31, 6:53, 7:01, 7:11 (very convenient), 7:23, 7:42, 7:51, 8:01, 8:29, 8:41, 9:01, 9:11, 11:38, 12:10 (woah), 12:58.
That ordering! I hate you right now.
Wait, what? It doesn't sort them by time automatically?
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@mrl said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
There's one correct way of cutting a tomato. Tomatos cut the wrong way are less tasty and generally better avoided.
Yes: with a sharp knife. Tomatoes cut with a dull knife may not be any less tasty in the end, but might result in you stabbing yourself with the knife in order to put yourself out of your misery first.
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I know there are things I will compulsively order, but it isn't many things, and I can't think of many examples. Mostly I prefer disorder.
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@magus same here. I'm the guy who has emails dating back to gmail's registration, starting with "Welcome to Gmail. Email from Google" and an unread count exceeding 12,000. If anyone asks why my answer is "I don't give a fuck"
The only reason I purge my voicemails is because there is a tight limit. Otherwise I'd have an archive of them too.
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@the_quiet_one said in What are your small compulsive behaviors?:
@magus same here. I'm the guy who has emails dating back to gmail's registration, starting with "Welcome to Gmail. Email from Google" and an unread count exceeding 12,000. If anyone asks why my answer is "I don't give a fuck"
The only reason I purge my voicemails is because there is a tight limit. Otherwise I'd have an archive of them too.
I...I just can't. The bold portion hurts me physically. I have to keep my unread count at 0 whenever possible. Seeing kids with their mail icon (they all have ipads) showing 999+ is painful enough.
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@benjamin-hall it drives my wife nuts. On the other hand, when she has trouble with returning a defective product because she deleted the email with the order number, that drives her nuts too.
I like making everything paper free because I prefer electronic clutter to physical clutter.
I will say that on my phone, I like to keep my call list and text messages to zero.