Quirky Habits?

[dorisc1981]

I have this terrible habit which I can't quit. It's terrible but yet I waste time on it. I split my split ends. Help!!! What are your bad and yet so entertaining habits?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i have to sit in the same seat of the sofa and the same seat at the dining table evertime, if i try and sit in a different spot i don't feel right.

i always park in one of two rows in walmarts parking lot, even if i end having to park far away.

the more i read, the more quirks i realize i have!

i have to sit on the same seat of the sofa, and i have my own place at the dining room table and the kitchen table. when we move into a new place, dh asks me "now which place is going to be yours?" and then he never sits there. when s/d visits and she sits in my place, it drives me nuts! i also have to have "my" chair and "my" computer at work. it doesn't have to be the same one every day, but once i choose which one i'm using today (usually the one nearest my patient) it bugs me if someone else uses it, especially if they leave their gloves on when they do so!

i have to park in the same place in the parking garage at work every day, in the drug store and grocery store parking lots, and in each and every mall i visit regularly. (there are about 7 different malls. in one i park outside the west entrance of norstrom's, in another i park outside the south entrance of macy's. i park at jc penny's at one, and outside borders at another. but that's just so i can find my car again! if i don't park in the same spot every time, i cannot find my car -- which drives me crazy!)

[pca_85]

Ok, more food ones: I inspect my fast food before eating in case someone tried to sneak a vegetable into my burger of fattiness and delight. I can only eat cheese if it's melted. I have to have three sugars in my coffee, no more, no less. I will only drink diet soda, won't drink flavored water, or unfavored coffee creamer. Please don't judge me lol.

[TDCHIM]

books: don't leave home without 'em!

seriously, i have to have a book within arm's reach at all times. i buy extra large purses because books seem to spawn in them!

oh yes, i gave up on regular purses a long time ago. instead, i use canvas bags, like the ones some stores sell for you to use instead of plastic bags. i'm a terrible packrat, so i always have a million things (books, notebooks, preschooler amusement supplies, medication bottles, etc.) in my bag. those big canvas bags ll bean sells are awesome for this sort of thing! i don't know what i'm going to do when i have to go back into the professional world again. i suppose i'll just get a big leather messenger-style laptop bag and throw into it as much of my usual traveling debris as possible.

i also pick certain foods apart and eat the parts i like the best last. when it comes to pizza, i start with the crust. then i peel off the cheese and toppings, eat the rest of the bare pizza piece, and last of all fold up all of the cheese and toppings into a rectangle and eat them. it's delicious, if messy. i also sort out my m&ms by color and eat them in a least-to-best-liked hierarchy; my sister and i started doing that as kids and we both still do so. fried chicken or hot chicken wings/drumsticks i peel into various segments and eat the juiciest-looking parts last. thankfully, my eating oddities are just habits, so when i'm in public i eat like a polite adult!

[Up2nogood RN, RN]

Here's a weird one I bet nobody else has. . .when I fold T-shirts I must smooth the hem area, if that little 3/4 inch hem is flipped up it will drive me insane until I flip it back. I must fold shirts in perfect thirds and then over. If the collar isn't centered I re-do it.

Even as a little girl I remember being horrified by my mother folding shirts in quarters!! Oh my God, nooooooooo!!!!!!

Aha it's not just me:)

My dh asked why his levis are always buttoned after the wash as it makes it

inconvenient for him. Haha, I said they will be buttoned or you can do

the laundry.

I also bite the inside of my cheek, which I did not know til a pp mentioned it, could cause cancer. Eeek.

But my alltime bad is to make a cake/brownies/cookies just to eat the batter. I don't particularily like the finished product.

[rn/writer, RN]

We are all so delightfully idiosyncratic. Whenever anyone tries to make us feel weird, we can take comfort in the fact that we have each other. :redbeathe

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

While playing a card game such as rummy where you lay cards down on the table while playing, EVERYONE'S cards have to be straightened. Yes, I know it's rude to reach over and straighten someone else's cards, but I just can't help myself. My family is used to it and I DO try to control myself if I'm playing cards with someone not in the family, but I get antsy and then start repeatedly straightening my own cards hoping they will get the idea.

[PedsAtHeart, LPN]

While playing a card game such as rummy where you lay cards down on the table while playing, EVERYONE'S cards have to be straightened. Yes, I know it's rude to reach over and straighten someone else's cards, but I just can't help myself. My family is used to it and I DO try to control myself if I'm playing cards with someone not in the family, but I get antsy and then start repeatedly straightening my own cards hoping they will get the idea.

I do this too! I can't stand when cards are crooked. If I play solitaire, I think I spend more time straightening the cards than I do playing the game!

I also have to be able to see the gas gauge if I am riding with someone and I will stare at it the whole time. If I cannot see it I will have high anxiety for the whole trip.

I can't let anyone help me out by cleaning or doing laundry or washing dishes... or anything! If its not done MY WAY (nothing special, just my way) then I just end up going behind them and doing it again because it will drive me crazy.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Whenever we go into a restaurant my husband HAS to sit so he can see the door. I literally have to wait for him to sit down or he'll spend the whole meal looking over his shoulder. Choice seating for him is with his back to the wall.

I've actually read this is common with men; has to do with some primal thing that says they don't want to be snuck up on.

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

Whenever we go into a restaurant my husband HAS to sit so he can see the door. I literally have to wait for him to sit down or he'll spend the whole meal looking over his shoulder. Choice seating for him is with his back to the wall.

I've actually read this is common with men; has to do with some primal thing that says they don't want to be snuck up on.

I am not a man but I am the same way, I have to see the door.

I also read that when most people go into a restaurant, coffee shop etc, if they can go to the left or right to sit down, most will go to their right. I've "people" watched and 90% of the time they do.

[KaroSnowQueen, RN]

I have a zillion books. Have them in the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, the cars. And I have been known to go buy books because I was down to two or three 'waiting" and didn't want to get low!!!

I have to sleep on top of the covers at the beginning of the night. Once I am in bed, one foot MUST stick out of the covers. At home, I have MY chair, MY blanket, MY pillows.

All doors/drawers MUST be shut. It can look like a tornado just went thru, but those doors/drawers MUST be shut.

I have to have something to drink within reach all the time. Coke, tea, coffee, water, whatever. Must be afraid I'll suddenly wind up in the Sahara without a drop to drink!!

I have to have the car window cracked, even in the winter. And I have to sleep with a fan on, year round.

And ink pens!!! I am a lunatic for ink pens!!! I have a coffee cup full on my work desk, a basket of them on my desk in my bedroom, any number floating about my purse and a couple or three or ten in the console of my car.

And dirty dishes MUST be put in the dishwasher, no dishes in the sink for days at a time. And laundry, all laundry that is mine to deal with anyway, has to be done ALL in one day, every day, every other at most. Doesn't matter if the floor hasn't been swept in six years, that laundry cannot be allowed to sit in the hamper!!!!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

I am not a man but I am the same way, I have to see the door.

I also read that when most people go into a restaurant, coffee shop etc, if they can go to the left or right to sit down, most will go to their right. I've "people" watched and 90% of the time they do.

Read the same thing about bathrooms. And it's true! Also - most people will NOT go into the first stall they peep in (unless their need has reached emergency proportions).

[LouisVRN, RN]

At work I'm a clean freak, I want my lines labeled and organized, anything superfulous removed, IV bangs dated and initialed with a patient label. I want the pumps set perfectly. At home, it half the time thanks to my husband and son looks like we just survived a tornado, and that doesn't bother me.

When I write on whiteboards, my handwriting has to be perfect or I have to re-do it.

I pick at things non-stop, I can't help it. I HATE looking at clogged pores, zits, etc. I feel like I can't stop staring at it. I've even convinced my husband to let me pick the spots on his back every now and then. I know it probably sounds super gross to most people, but its so relaxing for me. It really annoys me when people tell me what nice skin I have as I can always see imperfections in it. I remember from school this is somewhere on the OCD spectrum of dermatillomania, glad to see there's more of you out there!

I used to, as a child, be paranoid that someone was going to poison me, so I would never eat the last bite/drink of my meal so they could test it later. I used to get really upset when my mom would collect my stash of like 20 glasses from my bedside table to wash them.