Tag: forget

Had to happen. It did!

Of great concern for me has been my forgetfulness. When I go shopping I sometimes forget to collect all the bags if there are multiple bags. Receipts I have not always remembered to collect. If I pay cash and there is a person helping at the counter at times I forget to collect change from the person. If paying by cash at a self serve counter on occasions I have forgotten to collect the change given out by the machine. While all the above are signs of an absentmindedness that has concerned me it’s not been a big worry. My biggest fear has been shopping and walking out absentmindedly without paying.

Yesterday that fear played out in real time. I went to a shop, bought couple of things. One item was a just in case buy to avoid a repeat trip to the shop. After the purchase I went to the car and realized I did not have the receipt that would be needed for return. I was thinking “Dang, I forgot to collect the receipt” 😡 From the parking lot I walked back to the shop. There was a person ahead of me in the line at the counter I “paid” for the goods I bought. After that person was done I was about to ask for the receipt for my purchase. Turns out person at the counter had been frantically looking for me earlier as I had collected my couple of items of purchase without forgetting 👍 but had not paid for them 😦 👎 I remember using my credit card earlier. In a hurry I must have removed the card without noticing card authorization was still in progress 😀
Went back out again, got the items to re-scan and this time waited till the purchase was authorized, remembered to collect the items and the receipt. Apologized to the person at the counter too. Well done, Raj! 🤣
Phew, that could have been worse 🙏

Forgetfulness + Borderline OCD = ?

If your guess was Raj you are right 😀
You might ask what kind of OCD like tendencies. Below are some that come to mind immediately
1) In my wallet I like the $ bills of each denomination together and all the bills in increasing or decreasing order
2) If there is something closer to the edge of a shelf or kitchen island, especially containers with liquids, my natural instinct will be to move it closer to the center so that they are knocked down by accident
3) In the refrigerator all stuff with earlier expiry date in future will be closer to the front for easier access and use
4) If tissue paper roll has a tissue partially torn the “offending” piece will be torn off to the perforation 😀
5) If there is a spelling mistake by me I like to correct it if I can edit it or add a follow up note with correction. If there is a spelling mistake by others I struggle with how to get it corrected by bringing it to attention without offending the person
6) While tipping at restaurants I prefer the final figure to be a round figure. In recent times I have been weaning off this habit to save the effort of calculation
7) If paying by cash will try to get dollar bills as change instead of coins. It’s becoming more difficult now as current wallet does not have separate pocket for coins
8) Used to keep set of quarters handy in car (in a prescription tablet container no less 😀 ) in case of need for parking when I used to drive longer
9) Symmetry: If there are 3 flowering plants, two of them red and one white, the white one will generally be between the two red flower plants
10) Symmetry: Spacing and placement are important on pieces over mantel and entertainment center. If there are two of a kind and three of another kind normal preference would be to not bunch them together
11) Staircase steps: When I use them (which is very rare nowadays 🙂 ) I always like to count the # of steps. Serves no purpose but it’s a habit
12) Staircase steps: If I take 2 steps at a time first step landed will depend on # of steps on a flight of stairs. If the total is even first step will be on step# 2, if total is odd first step will be on step# 1. The meaningless objective is to make each step kinda uniform
13) While sending Emails all Email addresses will generally be in subject area till the Email is fully composed for fear of clicking Send by mistake before it’s fully written
14) Forgetfulness and OCD like combo: I frequently get out of elevator the first time door opens
15) Forgetfulness and OCD like combo: If I have promised to get something for a person will try to keep it in the car as soon as I remember. Generally in driver seat so that it is visible when I open the car driver side door. It’s a different matter that I may forget the item is in the car when I get off the car as I would have placed in different seat before starting the car 😀
16) Forgetfulness and OCD like combo: If there is an important piece of document I need to carry it generally will be stuffed into the wallet if it fits in or placed right over the wallet or near car key so that it is difficult to miss. Couple of times recently I forgot my wallet and realized why I felt something was missing when I noticed it on reaching the gas station or a shop

When I go on a “Why are the shoes not placed properly in the rack OR Why are things placed on the edge” wife and son laugh, probably thinking the OCD like tendency has kicked in 😀 Can’t blame them, almost all of it is trivial in the bigger picture 🙂