We all have a bit of OCD. What does yours look like?

[pgw0321321]

OMG, this tread is making me crazy, I never thought about ocd.
Like the few things I metioned before about guns and mags, now I'm thinking about other things.
If I'm the only person in the front seat of my wife's surburban, I adjust both sides of the temp. so they match, same with my truck, both levers must be equal.

 

[Pami]

On days I leave the house, I have a certain morning routine. Shower, acquire clothes, put on clothes. Dry & style hair, brush teeth, take medicines (several, always in the same order), deodorant, moisturizer, make-up. Put on my necklace, my watch, my glasses. If anything interrupts my routine, I forget something, and I'm "off" the whole day.

At work, everything I use on a daily basis is put in a certain place. If I'm off one day, and someone does my duties and uses one of my tools or otherwise rearranges my stockroom, I can't do anything else until everything is back in its proper place. (They actually did a *really* good job of making sure the stockroom was the way I like it when I came back after three weeks off this month.) Sometimes I think my boss moves things on purpose just to see how long it takes me to notice and put it back.

On the sales floor, merchandise must be stacked perfectly and must be lined up with the shelf. Fortunately, I'm not the only one OCD about this. Our Store Manager is, too. When our Regional Visual Merchandiser comes to visit and makes things look "pretty," Josh and I both often tell her, "That looks nice, but it will change as soon as you leave." Sometimes, I go through after her and "straighten" stacks of clothes that she just "visualized" and she has to correct me and tell me they're supposed to look like that. I listen, I acknowledge, I have every intention of letting it stay "pretty." And then five minutes later, I'm straightening it again.

When I get home from work, I have a routine to wind down, generally in the reverse of my morning routine. If something interrupts my routine, I forget something, and I'm grumpy all night.

At all restaurants, there is only one thing on the menu that I order. If the restaurant removes that item, it's the end of the world, and I can't eat there anymore. Applebee's has been the latest victim. Their queso & beef is now queso & chili (not *nearly* as good), and they no longer serve garlic fries with their bruschetta burger. The cooks aren't even allowed to make them for me, even though they have all the ingredients to do so. /whimper

When I eat, it's usually in a circle around my plate. My drink must be on the right side at the "top" of my plate. My fork and spoon must be on my right and my knife on my left, unless I've used it, then the knife is perfectly straight across the top of my plate.

I have to mention the FAQ in every post I make on INGO.

If I sit down to read a book, I have to read it cover to cover right then. If I have to put it down, it has to be at the end of the chapter.

I have an overwhelming urge to correct people when I know they are wrong, especially with spelling errors.

I cannot write a one-line post or email. I must write a book.

Have I mentioned the INGO FAQ yet?

 

[Hoosier8]

Sorry Jennybird, I don't have an ounce of OCD. I thought I did once but then I realized it was just neurosis. I would leave the house and have to go back and check the oven, then the water, etc. I finally discovered that I only do that when I don't really want to go somewhere, normally for work. Since I did not want to go, I would wait until the last minute to pack and then I was in a hurry, which led to not checking everything, etc. Now if I just go slower, no problem.

I lived with an OCD woman for 13 years. Not fun. Not married. Now I can sit on something without worrying if I will get yelled at for whatever.

I have a friend that is married to a very OCD woman and he finally convinced her to go on meds. It is better now but he used to be afraid to walk through the house because all of the carpet was "inline".

 

[hotfarmboy1]

I'm one of those that love even numbers with everything. The volume on my car stereo, house stereo, tv, etc. Is always on an even number. But I do also like multiples of 5, especially when an even number.

I keep everything in my house organized in a certain way, and if you mess with it I can't find a dang thing. To some it may look a bit messy, but to me I know where everything is. I just need more storage space, lol.

If my dad borrows my tools, which he often does since he can't find half of his, I get mad if he doesnt' put them back where he found them. Esp when I go to use that tool and its not there, so then I have to either call him and ask him where he left it, or go look for it. This is what delays me alot when working on one of our cars.

I always take a cooler of drinks with me everywhere I go. Even if its just into Elwood to go to Marsh's or Kmart to get something, I've gotta have something to drink with me at all times.

When pumping gas I always have to try my best to stop on an even dollar amount, and am very good at it. Very rarely do I go over, and if I do I've gotta go to the nearest 50 cents if possible.

When eating a sandwich, I always hold it at the spot where there is the most meat near the edge of the sandwich and eat it in a pattern up to that point. So that the last bite has the most meat in it.

I'll post more later if I can think of them.

 

[Django]

"A place for everything, and everything in its place"

Bills in wallet from largest denomination to smallest, all facing forward and heads up.
All drawers, cabinets, and surfaces in fixed order until a new object offsets balance or an old one is broken, lost, or stolen.
Used objects are to be cleaned and put away and refuse disposed of.
Establish counts for common procedures (timing/repetition)
Every morning same hygiene routine and dress sequence.
End of day reverse.

Not entirely OCD, but can't stand it when people leave messes.
REALLY can't stand it when they use something and never leave it in the same place twice.

 

[Fletch]

Bills in wallet from largest denomination to smallest, all facing forward and heads up.

OMG me too. It's so automatic now that I forgot all about it. If a cashier hands me a stack of bills going every which way, everything has to stop until I get them ordered correctly. If there are already bills in my wallet, I have to shuffle them all into the right spot. When I was a cashier, all of my bills had to be aligned and I would make customers wait while I straightened them out. Nowadays when I see cashiers putting cash in their drawers all mixed up, I have to resist the urge to go straighten it for them.

 

[theturtle06]

OMG me too. It's so automatic now that I forgot all about it. If a cashier hands me a stack of bills going every which way, everything has to stop until I get them ordered correctly. If there are already bills in my wallet, I have to shuffle them all into the right spot. When I was a cashier, all of my bills had to be aligned and I would make customers wait while I straightened them out. Nowadays when I see cashiers putting cash in their drawers all mixed up, I have to resist the urge to go straighten it for them.

This drives me nuts too - or I am the same exact way, rather. I work at a convenience store and it severely irks me when I get wadded-up cash or a mishmash of bills out of order. I promise you if you ever come into my store your bills will be handed back neatly stacked, going from 1s on top to larger bills on bottom! I also have to constantly stack and count the bills in my drawer and flatten them out and try to make them semi-presentable even though I am the only one who really has to "look" at them as when I give them back they go in someone's wallet/purse. When it comes to other stuff brushing my teeth I have to count in my head to 15 on each "quarter" of my mouth. I also cannot, CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT!!! stand seeing people's windshield wipers halfway up their windshield!!! AHHH that drives me so crazy (I cannot explain why, but it does!) Wet paper is also the worst thing ever, I avoid it like the plague.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

#1) After reading through this, I'm glad that I'm not alone.

#2) After reading through this, I'm glad that I'm not as bad as some of y'all.

If given M&Ms, Skittles, or my personal favorite: Brach's message hearts, I WILL organize them by color. I've been known to use separate tupperware containers for each color of the message hearts. And then I'll eat them based on the fewest number to greatest in number. The one exception are the white message hearts. They're always last to be eaten. Always.

My landlord turned all the switch and outlet plate screws horizontal. I didn't have to do it!

When they began to remodel the Walmart by my house, I didn't know how to handle it. Things were in different places?!?!?!!?!? How do they expect me to operate?

When parking in parking lots that I frequent regularly (Walmart, my work, the mall, etc) I try my hardest to park in the same row every trip. I'll park as far out as it takes if I can be in the same row. I've never lost my car this way!

The paper money in my wallet needs to be in order, too. Big in back, small in front. But, at the same time, it doesn't kill me if things get stuffed out of order. I'll fix it the next time I need to pull the cash out.

I "rotate" the plates and bowls in the cupboard. Freshly washed go on the bottom of the stack. This, in particular, drive my wife crazy. She'll stack them how she wants...and then I'll put them the right way.

When I pump gas, I really really really like it to be on the .00 or .50. But if I can't get it done, it's no big deal. I'm mellowing out on this one, I guess.

Wall hangings need to be hanging square. If they're not, it bugs me to the point that I'll attempt to straighten them. Of course, I'm always at someone else's house/office when I do this. If they're crooked at home...no biggy. Go figure.

My computer MUST must MUST be set up a certain way. Home or at work, they're both set as close as the same as I can get. If the quick-start buttons and/or the desk-top icons are moved...I get nervous until I can put them back.

I need to ask my wife what else there is and post an update. hehe

-J-

 

[IMPULSE.ACTIONS]

Where do I start??? Lol. All I can say is symmetry and order. As mentioned above there is a place for everything and everything in it's place.

We'll start with the car. I count the flashes of my turn signal anytime I am changing lanes or passing someone and it must flash 6 or 8 whole times. I can't turn it off in the middle of a blink either, the indicator on the dash has to be out. The radio volume must always be on an even number and all my radio stations are programmed from lowest station number to highest. If I find a new station I want to save and it is in the middle somewhere they all have to be adjusted accordingly. I always back into parking spots so I can pull straight out when I leave. I think this one is more of a fear of backing over someone or something when I get back into my car. If I am cleaning the car by hand it is an all day event just about, there is a specific order and everything has to be done perfect. I try just going to Mike's to avoid this. The windows have certain places I will leave them. If someone is in the car with me and they crack a window I will adjust it to where I like them or just open it all the way. Fueling the car isn't too big of a deal if I can't stop at a even dollar amount but I try. It is a must to push the trip reset at least 2 or 3 times after I fill up though.

At work everything is sorted and organized and clean. All my pens, markers, highlighters face the same way and are lined up by type, size and color. All the cables for the desk, computer, light, etc. are straight, cable tied in place and kept off the floor. My desktop looks the exact same way every night before I leave. If I have aquired something new it will usually spend a couple nights in the drawer until I can adjust to it being on my desktop. I keep two small cups for change, one for pennies and the other for silver.

At the house I can't tell you how many steps it is to something but I can tell you exactly where everything is and what's next to it. All of my shoes are in a row by color (light to dark) then type (running, dress, work). The remotes sit on the end table in perfect lines tallest to shortest. All of my clothes hang except for socks and boxers and have to be in order (light to dark, short sleeve, long sleeve, polo, dress, etc.) Everything in the fridge and pantry is faced forward in rows by size and content. Towels have to be folded and stacked by size and color. I could spend hours typing this section..

As far as day to day personal traits I have a lot. The most notable in spoken language is if someone says anywayS I will always correct them and say anyway. I never grab a bathroom door handle with my bare hands, I'll keep the paper towel to open it with and then throw it away outside the bathroom. I count syllables by twitching my toes (alternating left foot to right) during a sentence or if I am sounding/spelling out a word in my head. I always rattle my wrist before I look at my watch. When walking I will mentally draw 45* lines from interior corners of random objects and try not to step where that line would be in my walking path. I used to have the OCD eating traits but have forced some of them out of my thoughts just to make it a more social atmosphere and not be concerned with what's going on right in front of me.

As some mentioned about the screws in wall sockets, we have floor plugs that have round plates over them about every 10 feet where I work. They each have 2 screws holding them down and the screw orientation is different on almost all of them. The building is about 1/4 mile long and as I walk the hall some are inline with the wood, some are at angles, some run cross ways. This has bothered me since day one which was 8 years ago and I always look at them when I'm walking but I don't think they want to pay me to just straighten the plug covers.. Lol

2 novels later, that's a little bit of my lifestyle..

Welcome everyone else!

 

[jennybird]

My daughter shows more signs of OCD. She counts the number of letters in words that people are saying...

I KNEW there was one I forgot! I take this one little freaky step further though. Get this... I will count the number of letters in a word or sentence, then count the letters in that number. For instance, the phrase "for instance" has 11 letters. The word "eleven" has 6 letters. The word "six" has 3 letters, "three" has 5, "five" has 4.

*** Fun fact... you will always, always, ALWAYS end up at 4. Don't try this at home though, you might get hooked.

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

Compared to some of you I shouldn't even post .

Before I leave in the morning it is wallet , keys, phone and gun 3 times in a row .

Before I make a turn my blinker MUST blink at least 3 full times or I'll pass and try again .

At night , wallet , keys , phone , gun and doors locked 3 more times .

 

[hornadylnl]

Yep, you guys are wack jobs. I can't really think anything that I'm OCD about other than know that something needs done, I just can't walk away from it. For example, I work in maintenance. Last night, I was doing preventative maintenance on a hoist and happened to see that a shifter pin is lose. It's quite the pain to tighten them up as you have to take the end of the hoist apart just to tighten it up. The pin may back out tomorrow or it may last til eternity. I didn't want to go through the trouble to tighten it but I just couldn't walk away from it without doing it. I guess my OCD is just not being satisfied with doing a job half butted.

 

[rambone]

To echo some of yours: I face my dollars even if I hold up the line, I always type in paragraphs, and I hate misspelled words. If the spell checker shows a red underline beneath my word I will always look it up in an online dictionary. It really ticks me off when the spell checker tells me I'm wrong but I'm not.

Sometimes I spend an unnecessary editing a thread/email/blog until it looks just right and took twice as long as it should have. I often keep hitting the "edit" button to change the dumbest little thing here on INGO. Spacing between paragraphs is meticulously monitored and at my fixed at my discretion.

I wash my hands multiple times after an *ahem*..... .... In fact, unless it is unavoidable I take a shower immediately. I can't stand my hands being sticky in general so I frequently wash my hands while cooking, cleaning, etc. It just feels gross.

I concur with the guy who said he is messy but he knows exactly where everything is. This reminds me of myself. I keep my stuff in a concentrated mess in my office and I know when it gets moved.

I am funny about the routes I take places - like the daily drive to work. Sometimes I take one route there but a slightly different route home. In my head one is faster than the other depending on the direction you are heading. For example, it is better to go the route that allows for more right-turns because you are more likely to be able to "turn on red". Think of it like the shape of a square, with your destinations being two opposite corners. Barring the possibility of going diagonal, you take the route that lets you turn right more often so you can get through intersections quicker. Plus it throws off any tails I may encounter.

 

[danielocean03]

I have more OCD quirks than I care to admit, I know how many I have because I've counted them repeatedly while reading this thread.

Also, I used to be big on the "rounding the gas tank" thing too, until I learned of the damage that can be caused on the vast majority of newer vehicles equipped with emisson control fuel vapor canisters (charcoal cansisters, EVAP canisters, all the same). Topping off the tank will allow the excess fuel to enter the fuel vapor/EVAP canister and typically damage it, and usually tends to cause a check engine light to boot.

Something to think about.

 

[FordMan08]

Im not OCD about much of anything, I do suffer from HDADD, I can barley pay attention but when I do its remarlably clear.

 

[Jack Ryan]

This drives me nuts too - or I am the same exact way, rather. I work at a convenience store and it severely irks me when I get wadded-up cash or a mishmash of bills out of order. I promise you if you ever come into my store your bills will be handed back neatly stacked, going from 1s on top to larger bills on bottom! I also have to constantly stack and count the bills in my drawer and flatten them out and try to make them semi-presentable even though I am the only one who really has to "look" at them as when I give them back they go in someone's wallet/purse. When it comes to other stuff brushing my teeth I have to count in my head to 15 on each "quarter" of my mouth. I also cannot, CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT!!! stand seeing people's windshield wipers halfway up their windshield!!! AHHH that drives me so crazy (I cannot explain why, but it does!) Wet paper is also the worst thing ever, I avoid it like the plague.

Just don't lick your fingers while you count the money.

 

[Bigum1969]

Man, we would make one huge dysfunctional family!

I share many of the same "qualities" listed in the above threads. I also have a big problem listening to people eat. Can't stand it. My wife sounds like a trash compactor to me when she eats. As a kid, I would listen in bed to my dad clanging his spoon on his bowl with every bite of his cereal in the morning. I couldn't sleep. I would wake up automatically at 4 a.m. just to torture myself.

I also can't stand feet in my sightline. My wife likes to put her feet on the dashboard when I'm driving and I can't stand it.

One more thing... No one can sit in front of me at a movie. If it happens, all I can do the entire movie is focus on the head in front of me.

I hear there is some new-fangled medicine that can help with this...

 

[kingnereli]

I only have a couple. I can't stand open doors. All doors must be closed at all times unless someone is walking through them. I also hate underwear. (I know, too much information.)

I did have a roommate at college that was very OCD. He had an area rug in the middle of the room that he would comb the fringe straight every night before bed. Everything had to be in its place. Even MY stuff. He was also a heavy sleeper so one night a couple of buddies and I piled all of his stuff one top of him while he slept and waited in the morning for him to wake up and freak out.

 

[El Cazador]

Y'all are nuts; you know that, right? Some of you are right up there with that Monk guy I saw on TV a couple of times.

I could care less if my portions on my dinner plate touches. It all ends up mixed together anyway in the end.

I lock the back door first, if I'm closest to it. If not, the front door gets it first.

I don't eat candy very often, and when I do, I'm not sorting/stacking/decorating with it. I'm shoveling it in a handful at a time.

I put toppings on my salads haphazardly, as I come across them on the trolley, and I even put some more on top of my dressing occasionally. Again, no decorating. I'm hungry

If there isn't anyone behind me, I don't signal.

I load the dishwasher for maximum fill. I don't care if the plates don't match in the trays/racks. If I can get another bowl or cup in there, I'm doing it. Darn thing's expensive to run.

I take my change, count it, fold the bills, and stick it all in my pocket. Green side up, green side down, 5's, ones, 10's, folded in half(sometimes) and into a pocket. Right along with the coins.

I roll my cords right-handed or left-handed, but I do make the coils the same length. They just store better and last longer that way.

Sometimes I tie my left boot first, sometimes my right. Depends on which hand I have breakfast in usually.

I really like you folks (well, most of you. There's a couple though...) but y'all need to relax a bit more. I'll bet a bunch of you proud Monks get headaches a lot, and heartburn too. Darn shame, life's way too complicated now as it is. Why clog it up with even more complications?

Just start telling yourselves "I am water..."

 

[Fletch]

Just start telling yourselves "I am water..."

I prefer "I am a leaf on the wind... watch me soar."