At Work OCD

[Trayol]

From reading another post about being chastised for going above and beyond one's duties reminded me of this.

About 2 years ago when I was working at the dairy store one morning, I decided to rearrange the glasses so that every peice was next to the same type. Since I cannot drawtype I will explain what I did. The 1 scoop and soda glasses were put on the top shelf, the 2 scoop sundae, large sundae, banana split and plates were put on the second shelf and finally on the lower shelf were the 1 scoop sundae and the ceramic mugs. Everything was perfectly symmetrical.

The next morning I worked and everything was jumbled back up again. i was not pleased. I go to move things when the manager asks what I was doing. I told him and he replied "So it was you." Emphasis on the "you". Apparently, I didn't take in account of the height of some of my co-workers, who couldn't reach the top shelf at all. And my manager was the one who had to fix what I did. I didn't get in trouble, he just said stop trying to be overly helpful.

So has anyone else go OCD at work or am I the lone wolf?

[Sylvia727]

I always set up my work station the exact same way. It makes me more efficient since I don't have to look up to search for a tool, I always know right where it will be. However, I do get a bit OCD about the exact placement of each item.

My coworkers are continuously messing it up. Sometimes they're trying to be helpful. If they set it up for me before I get there, I thank them and rearrange everything. Sometimes they make food at the station while I'm busy elsewhere, and I come back two minutes later to find it in complete disarray. I mean tools are six feet away from my station and liquid has been spilled on the flour I use to roll dough out. Again, I thank them for their help and set everything back right.

So far my OCDness hasn't been a problem. In fact, I'm the fastest in the department, so I know my method's working. It just gets very irritating when my coworkers try to help - like a three-year-old who "helps" you make dinner or weed the garden, they just get in the way and make a big mess.

I've gotten in mini-fights over the trash can, though. The kitchen likes to steal mine so that they don't have to empty their trash as often. However, I scrape dirty flour into it and throw away refuse or old product into it. I refuse to walk to the other side of the restaurant every five minutes when the can is supposed to be two feet away from my station. I always win, though.

[Andara Bledin]

I had to straighten out a supply shelf in the room I work in today. I just couldn't leave it.

The shelving area in question is on top of a row of filing cabinets, and half of the area is the company snack display, which I am in control of, generally speaking.

We got a new shipment of junk food in today, and as I was arranging it, the disarray of the other shelves just bugged me enough that I had to deal with it.

It looks much better.

^-.-^

[Listerfiend]

When I'm working on projects at work my coworkers have learned to not try to help me at all. It's not that I don't want the help or anything, it's always appreciated; it's just that I have a system for everything and people know that if they mess me up it's more trouble than it's worth.

I also set my work area up the exact same way every time I'm there, and it's incredibly irksome when it's not the way I want it, from the way the pens are arranged to the order of documents on my clipboard and placement of my hand sanitizer (which I use every twenty minutes). I like to think that it makes me more efficient, since I have all the things I use on a regular basis out and things I don't normally use put away.

There have been several occasions during which my boss griped at me over how I was doing "too good of a job" because it would take too long for me to do things. I can't leave things half-assed, though--I have to have either complete disarray or everything in its place and symmetrical, which takes a long time but is worth it to me...

When I'm out shopping I also constantly organize and re-arrange things. It just pisses me off when things aren't where they belong.

[Becks]

I have a tendency to do things in the exact same order and at the exact same time every day.

Coworkers are starting to set their watches by me.

And let's not even get into how I take the salad bar down at night.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Yes, I am OCD at work. No, I'm not taking anything for it.

I'm very particular about how the furniture is backstocked, mainly because I have to count it every week. It's so much easier and faster if things are arranged neatly and I don't have to run to multiple locations on opposite ends of the backroom to count a single item.

Plus it makes it easier to locate items when customers purchase them and a carryout is needed.

For everything else, I place the item on the shelf so that the UPC is facing out. That way, when a person is doing pulls, they can easily scan the item and find out if they've scanned the correct one.

[crazylegs]

I have a *thing* for the radio batteries, they all have to face the same way on the stands and I'm the only person who removes charged cells and places exhausted ones on the charging unit. Or so it feels!

[Igorina]

My office is somewhat chaotic to compensate for the unbelievable amount of OCD I *must* have in the lab.

Genetic extraction kits don't care which species' DNA or RNA they're extracting, so if I want to keep my samples pure: hair tied up and out of the way, clean lab coat, new gloves scrubbed down with decontaminate, every piece of equipment I will touch scrubbed down with decontaminate, lab counter scrubbed down.

Then extract. During the extraction periodi ally scrub gloves down with decontaminate. If I end up touching something I didn't scrub down (i.e. face, hair, misc. bit of lab equipment), I change my gloves and scrub them down.

I can't be interrupted while I'm doing these procedures, either. So once I start them, I have to go through them to the end or end up losing any potential results.

*rocks back and forth in her corner mumbling 'Out damn spot'*

[Cyphr]

<snip>
*rocks back and forth in her corner mumbling 'Out damn spot'*

Can't believe im not the only one who mutters that phrase at work - too bad all our tiles are stained and waxed over so it would take a LONG time to remove.

[Igorina]

Can't believe im not the only one who mutters that phrase at work - too bad all our tiles are stained and waxed over so it would take a LONG time to remove.

Tee-hee! Join me in my neurosis!

[Difdi]

While I'm not OCD, I do tend to be very picky about my workbench layout. I'm something of an amateur efficiency expert, and I spend a fair amount of time tinkering with tool layout, ordering of tasks, and so forth. It's part of why my boss likes me so much, I tend to get twice as much work done as anyone else in the workshop, for the same level of effort and resulting quality. It's amazing how much time you can save by eliminating wasteful motions.

But as I said, I get annoyed with people moving things, not returning things they borrowed to where they took them from, and so forth. I'm pretty easy going; As long as people treat me with respect, I do the same. But some things annoy me more than others, and when I get past a certain point, I tend to resort to technological means of fixing the issue.

For a while, I had a rather strong battery-powered electromagnet installed inside my workbench (they have a lockable cabinet underneath, it's effectively our personal lockers, so only the regular user of that workbench and my boss have keys). The magnet was hooked to a motion sensor, and engaged whenever someone came close to the bench. While my boss thought it was hilarious to watch the biggest guy in the shop unable to lift even the tiniest precision screwdriver, he eventually made me remove it. But while it lasted, the sheer bliss of never having to rearrange my workspace or go hunting for missing tools was wonderful...

[bendertiger]

And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Hey Milton, what's happening?

Umm, Milt, we're gonna need to go ahead and move you downstairs into storage B. We have some new people coming in, and we need all the space we can get. So if you could just go ahead and pack up your stuff and move it down there, that would be terrific, OK?

[Kiwi]

Im ocd about people using my phone!!!

people come up to my desk and grab it, putting their mouth and oily hair right up to the handset....

I have 100% alcohol wipes to disinfect it afterwards

YUCK

[draftermatt]

I used to be very OCD at work. Everything had to be in a proper place, I hated when things were scattered about (I'm also this way at home)

Well, I still am, but it's not as bad. My boss is surrounded by enough paper to save a small forrest. It's all drawings, contracts, etc. He just lays them on a table "so he can get to them" rather than file them. But it's a PITA when he's not at work and we have to find something.