Winner by Default
There are some things that you can only figure out by putting yourself in a new situation.
And here is one of the things about me that I had forgotten until I started work at a new workplace.
I have a "default toilet".
That is to say, when I am at work or somewhere I go regularly, I always go to the same toilet, if it is available.
This might not be such a freak-scene thing to do if it was the first and most obvious toilet. But it isn’t. And it isn’t the same toilet configuration either – I don’t always use the one “at the far left”, for example.
I’m not sure exactly when this started. Certainly at Uni I had a “default toilet”, it was the left-hand one in the ground floor women's toilets in Building 8 at RMIT. And since then when there has been an option to use more than one toilet I have always gone for the same one wherever possible.
I can’t explain it. It’s a bit unbalanced I suspect.
But on the other hand, I don’t throw a naa-naa every time some one puts the toilet paper on the holder the wrong way, or kick and scream on the ground if the bins aren’t lined up straight on the kerb. I do get annoyed when people* put the things that I use (in this case, my favourite chopping board) in the WRONG PLACE**, but I suspect I'm not alone there.
What are your verging-on-pathological patterns?
* I think we all know who I mean here, and it’s not Grizzlewick
** Side note: I have a version of office that “smart-tags” things when I’m writing. Just now when I right-clicked on the smart tags for “wrong place” if offered me options to “find directions” or “find road map”. So now, when we say, Destination Wrongtown, population You, we’ll know where we’re going. Ah Microsoft, you are so generous with your intuition.
And here is one of the things about me that I had forgotten until I started work at a new workplace.
I have a "default toilet".
That is to say, when I am at work or somewhere I go regularly, I always go to the same toilet, if it is available.
This might not be such a freak-scene thing to do if it was the first and most obvious toilet. But it isn’t. And it isn’t the same toilet configuration either – I don’t always use the one “at the far left”, for example.
I’m not sure exactly when this started. Certainly at Uni I had a “default toilet”, it was the left-hand one in the ground floor women's toilets in Building 8 at RMIT. And since then when there has been an option to use more than one toilet I have always gone for the same one wherever possible.
I can’t explain it. It’s a bit unbalanced I suspect.
But on the other hand, I don’t throw a naa-naa every time some one puts the toilet paper on the holder the wrong way, or kick and scream on the ground if the bins aren’t lined up straight on the kerb. I do get annoyed when people* put the things that I use (in this case, my favourite chopping board) in the WRONG PLACE**, but I suspect I'm not alone there.
What are your verging-on-pathological patterns?
* I think we all know who I mean here, and it’s not Grizzlewick
** Side note: I have a version of office that “smart-tags” things when I’m writing. Just now when I right-clicked on the smart tags for “wrong place” if offered me options to “find directions” or “find road map”. So now, when we say, Destination Wrongtown, population You, we’ll know where we’re going. Ah Microsoft, you are so generous with your intuition.
posted by gigglewick at
5:22 pm
7 Comments:
OMG I never use the first and most obvious toilet. Oprah told me not to do that some years ago, and that's one piece of advice that proves she's a bloody legend mate ;)
I always aim for the very last toilet, the furthest one away. Oprah told me to do that as well. And she told me not to hang my handbag on the back of the door, because people will steal it. That piece of advice has been a little more difficult to follow because where else am I going to put the darn thing?
You should get people to watch Oprah, she'd tell people not to put things in the wrong place. ;) And probably combine it with fashion tips or something equally useful. ;)
She also said we should never see the stirrup on stirrup pants, this was around the same time as the other useful advice, and seeing as I have not seen stirrup pants since the late 80's you now know about how long I have been using the very last toilet. ;)
Aha Snoskred. I can't use Oprah as an excuse for my quirk.
But I would have thought that the last one away makes it more difficult to get away if attacked by evil-doers (TM). What can I say, I've watched too many idiotic suspense films.
GW
Ohh, mate! Everyone has a default toilet! And a second default toilet if the default toilet is in use. In my current workplace (albeit temporary) it is the second toilet in, on the floor where I usually work. It's mainly because they replaced the light recently with a slightly higher wattage, so unless I'm hungover and light-sensitive, I always head for the best-lit-loo. I'm not sure why. If, of course, I'm hungover, I head for any other loo, so long as it's not bright and so long as there's not someone immediately nextdoor. Beause that would be weird.
NO! NO! NO!
Always use the first toilet! Why? Because THAT'S the one no one ever uses! It's always fresh! Always clean! Everyone is always going for the 'other toilet' lottery and immediately discounting what's behind door number one because it's the closest. Turns out folks aren't lazy when it comes to escaping cootees.
If anyone ever watched me cook they would probably discover enough pathological patterns to put me away.
My default loo is the one in the middle or the first one in public loos (a la Franzy's theory). I also have to cruch leaves when I walk on leave strewn sidewalks. When I was a teen I had a wee case of OCD that involved handwashing and lights and stuff and I sometimes notice tendancies like that now and again. Viva la neuroses!
Redcap,
I'm relieved it's not just me.
Franzy,
Interesting theory. I reckon people go for the further away loos because they're trying to escape scrutiny (despite closed doors). Tell me more about your pathological cooking patterns!
Audrey,
I am a major leaf cruncher also, or was, until Mr Fix pointed out that scuffing through autumn leaves can leave you with a shoe mostly covered in dog poo. Has never happened to me, but it is enough to give me pause. Now I just live vicariously through Grizzlewick, whose dreams I've not yet had the heart to shatter.
Also, I cannot stand people leaving lights on when they're not in the room - it's my very own form of enviro-nazism.
Second toilet from the end on the floor below my office. And I always adorn the toilet seat with folded toilet paper before I sit on it.
And I don't walk on the cracks on footpaths.
And I have a compulsion to count the number of non-continuous painted lines in the middle of the road; but only when I'm a passenger, my fellow road users will be glad to hear.
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