Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Day 40: Obsessions

I guess this was bond to come naturally. After discussing addictions, I found myself observing other people's obsessions, because, again, all of us so called "rational beings" are burdened with maniatic, compulsive and obsessive behavior.

All of this started when the Principal Financial Administrator (who also happens to be co-owner of the company I'm currently working for) started to worry about the restroom keys. Each employee is suppossed to have his or her personal key, and there's another one in a special keychain for visitors only. All of a sudden, it became my responsibility to prevent anyone from taking that key. In consecuence, she started nagging me just because it is more comfortable for everyone to take the public keychain instead of carrying their own The top of it came when, at 9 a.m., when we never have any visitors, the damned keychain was not on the counter and she started wondering out loud, "what would happen if we had a customer". Immediatly, I showed her the especially-kept-for-emergencies extra pair I had been hiding for months. And then, she gave me this kind of angry look and said "Anyway, the keychain has to be here!" Worst of it, she's been asking every single day, as she passes by my desk, where the damn keychain is! Now that's what I call an obsession.

Personally, I believe that being obsessed is not always a bad thing. In my case, I'm obsessed with keeping my working space clean and neat, since it helps me to reduce my stress levels. Another obsession is punctuality. People who make me waste the only asset I cannot replace really drive me crazy. Personal space and boundaries are another thing that would deserve a post on its own, since I really go mad when people mess around with my personal stuff. But there are other obsessions that can even destroy the balance of daily life, like the "having the last word" obsession exemplified before, which prevents this people from cutting a win-win deal with a lot of people, thus making her lose a lot of opportunities.

I wonder how many obsessions my hypothetical readers may have.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

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The Usual Stuff said...

muchas gracias, danyos. prometo solemnemente darme una vuelta. James es uno de los chicos que visito regularmente. Que chiquito se esta volviendo el mundo, ¿no?

Rick said...

I don't have any obsessions, but where's the damned keychain!!!
;-)

Miao 妙 said...

I have quite a few addictions and obsessions too. One of my addictions - I forgot to mention previously - is watching the World Cup matches.

And like you, I prefer to keep my workplace neat; I hate it when people are late for no valid reason; and I get angry whenever someone invades my privacy. There's another thing which truly annoys me too, and that is the evasion of my questions, or giving me ambiguous answers when my questions are of utmost importance or relevance. For example, I called my job agent this afternoon to confirm the date on which my pay will be deposited into my account, and when I asked, "So it will be transferred into my account on 7 March, right?", he replied very absent-mindedly, "Yeah, should be." And that pissed me off greatly. I mean, what the hell did he mean by 'should be'? It was my salary we were talking about! And as my job agent, he should give me a definite answer instead of giving me reason to doubt him.

I get very frustrated whenever I receive such answers, or worse, no answer at all.

The Usual Stuff said...

Kyklops: my obsession is to have the damn keychain hanged where it is suppossed to be. And pity on the soul who doesn't leave it where it belongs!

miao: of course you got pissed! It's money we're talking about! I would have replied something like: should be, must be or you just don't know the difference? I also go crazy with stupid answers. Ex.
Me: Are you gonna have your salad dressing?
Mom: You're not suppossed to have it. You're on a diet.
Me. I know I'm not suppossed to have it. My question was if you are gonna eat it.
Mom: gave it to me.
Blast those people!