Eating out...
is a nightmare! In a restaurant, I have real difficulty.

I can NOT order the same thing as someone else. Ever since I was a kid, I've always ordered last, or near the end (if I know those going after me will be ordering something different to my choice). I can't say that there's a reason behind it besides not wanting to seem unoriginal, but it's lead to me having some pretty awful meals whilst sitting staring at the person who's eating my original choice like a small child whose puppy's just got squished by a bus.

Also, when eating with a group, it's fairly common for conversation to occur... I always, always cover my mouth during this, whether I intent to speak or not, whether I have a mouth full of food or not until my plate is clear. I guess this one stems from hours of "DON'T TALK WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL" from Grandma.... thanks Granny!
(GOTO:10 dropped out, logged on and jacked off., Sat 3 Jul 2010, 13:22, 2 replies)

I have incurable OCDMC.
It's just like that, and that's the way it is.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 13:12, 5 replies)

I can only have a wank to the tune of 'Nelly the Elephant'.

( @RBFesquire Good luck b3ta, was nice knowing you. So long., Sat 3 Jul 2010, 12:02, 6 replies)

When listing...
...food stuffs or drinks that someone might wish to enjoy: "Would you like a cup of tea? Coffee? Glass of Juice?..." and so on and so forth, that list always ends with one or more of 'Thick ear and a wooden leg?' 'Slap in the face with a wet kipper?' 'badger/weasel (interchangeable) on a stick?' The first two I got from my late grandad, he always did the same thing. The badgers/weasels are all my own problem.
(Celebgil, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 12:02, 2 replies)

Signs
Every time I walk under one of those big road signs with the directions on for some unknown reason I have to touch my mouth and mutter the word "Bastard". If I don't do this then I suspect something bad will happen like Michael Winner announcing he's popping round for tea.
(tompot Ian Beale can't catch oranges, the tit., Sat 3 Jul 2010, 11:39, 1 reply)

This question is making me conscious of more of these
Mostly linguistic ticks I was kind of conscious of but never really noticed before.

- Saying 'Thangyewverymuch' in an Elvis voice when someone hands me a drink
- Saying 'Here we are then' in an overly cheerful way when handing a drink to someone else (this was kind of a running gag when I was at college, for reasons too lengthy to go into here - all my other mates from back then grew out of it. I didn't)
- Saying 'Right then!', whilst doing a drum roll with my hands on the desk, before commencing on any arduous task
- Using the word 'Thingemebobski'
- When someone answers the phone with 'Hello, John speaking', always replying with 'Hello, Johnspeaking!'
- Shouting 'That tea's not going to make itself', if no one's touched the kettle within about 0.5 seconds of it boiling (in my defence, this is due to believing that making tea with water that's been off the boil for any time at all is just plain wrong).

It's a wonder everyone in the office doesn't think I'm an annoying twat!

Oh, hang on...
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 11:33, 5 replies)

I've just spent
about an hour and a half reading all ten pages (so far) of this QOTW.

I recognise far too many of them in myself, and while many of them are just habits rather than true disorders, I now feel very sorry for my ex-wife :-(

The only one I can think of that no-one has yet mentioned is this:
Unloading the shopping trolley onto the conveyor belt and loading it into bags at the other end MUST be accompanied by a short rythmic refrain sung softly and repetitively, and the loading/unloading must be done in time to it.

Until the ex or the checkout girl look at you in that "I'm scared" way....

And knives which point down in the dishwasher are Wrong.
( Boot I want to know what you meant, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 11:15, 4 replies)

Just the one, really.
I know I do it, but I never realise until someone's looking at me in a funny way (usually the Mrs). While chewing food, I tap the end of my nose with the end of the handle of either a fork or spoon. I've no idea when I started or why.

Also, Does SLVA have shares in QOTW or something?
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Sat 3 Jul 2010, 10:31, 1 reply)

Hmm
I have to have the volume on a even number on the TV/Car stereo.
Socks have to be put on left foot, right foot and gloves right hand, left hand.
My mugs of tea/coffee have to have a teaspoon in or I can't enjoy them. I even take my own spoon to Starbucks/Costa as they only have stirring rods.
My house can be a right tip, but if my CD's are out of alignment or my books don't go down in size from left to right, I have to remopve them all and start again.

The weirdest is one of my best mates though, he eats food alphabetically, including the components of dishes. Always has since he was dared to by his sister at age 3. Thing is, stuff like lasagna (pasta, mince etc) get very difficult to eat tidily!
(Strump striving for imperfection since, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 9:17, Reply)

Newspapers is the other one that annoys people...
When reading the paper, on the edge of the back page are these little indentations which I have to pick out in chunks with my nails, & then chew them! Even if it's someone else paper or the Metro I've found on the train seat! How I don't have AIDS is beyond me!!!
(Dr Fishfinger Want's to see a fat man give a tit wank, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 9:11, Reply)

Ooooooh yes!
This is my element this! As a mild Tourettes "sufferer" (Sadly, not the random swearing/outbursts kind & more the "Minor facial tic"), I also display mild tendancies of the other linked dis-orders, Autism, Aspergers, AD(H)D & of course, OCD! It's so mild, that it's never affected my work or social life (if anything, it's improved them!)

When I worked in a restaraunt for instance, you were guaranteed the most aysemmetric table settings you ever did see, & when I knock something with my elbow accidentally, I then have too (discreetly) knock the same thing with the other one. If I scratch a part of my body, I then get 3 (no more, no less) itches on other various body parts! The one that people really seem to notice though, is my eating habits! The 3 main ones are Subways, Regular Sandwiches & Peas, Beans, Sweetcorn & Sesame Seeds!

With Subways, no matter what I get, I always have the same salad (All salad, no olives, a few chilli's, loads of gherkins) Then it's cut into two, & on one half, I pick off & eat all the salad (Except the onions) then on other half, just the gherkins. I then have to decide which half I'm going to put crisps on!

With Regular Sandwiches, I eat them as normal, but tear off one side of the crust (The bit that's on top of the loaf) & then peel it! Getting as many layers off as I can before it's just the blackish bit left. Then I eat that, because it's the tastiest bit of any sandwich!

With peas, beans, sweetcorn & sesame seeds, it's fairly similar, I have to take a couple out randomly & peel off the skin/shell, consume the inner part & then eat the shell! With sweeetcorn & sesame seeds, you have to squeeze them just right so they pop out the innards before you can go to work on them!

Quite annoyingly, my house being a shit-hole doesn't bother me.

Length? Fuck off, If I did, it would have to be to the nearest millimeter!
(Dr Fishfinger Want's to see a fat man give a tit wank, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 9:01, 5 replies)

burgers
Eating a burger one layer at a time, regardless of the mess involved!!
(the_icks has the sweet essence of giraffe, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 7:49, 1 reply)

OCD? hmm..
Cleanliness... I HAVE to clean everything before I can go to bed. I just can't sleep if there is a dirty cup or something on the sideboard. It makes me rather uneasy and upset.

Oh, and I have an eating disorder. So, go figure. Lots of OCD like behaviour there! Milkybar buttons must be eaten two at a time, stuck together like a UFO, and sucked. If a shop has only large milkybars, half must be broken off and thrown away. (Milkybar is a safe food in small amounts) My tea/coffee MUST be in the same mug or it just tastes wrong. Tea, even more so. I will NEVER have tea at somebody's house because it'll just be wrong without my mug. Coffee I am becoming slightly more at ease with having in random mugs. Butter gives me the fear. I also eat the same food every single day. Coffee at breakfast, diet fizzy drink at 9am, Jazz apple at break, weight watchers yoghurt and 3 sticks of celery (cut into 6) and half a cucumber (cut into 8 sticks) at lunch with mustard. Dinner varies from a selection of about 5 meals. Variety is not the spice of life. Black pepper and mustard is. (Grammar, yes.) I'm a bit odd.
( Bathory, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 6:12, Reply)

stusut79
Can't wait to see what he comes up with this week...
(British Steel was participating in awesomeness on, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 5:04, Reply)

In all seriousness though
I used to count the syllables of a sentence and depending on whether the number were even or odd the sentence was liked or disliked respectively.

This applied to all things- music, text messages, books, catchphrases, corporate slogans.

I used to click my teeth together left, right, left, right, left, right, etc. for faster sentences/songs so I could tell if I liked it or not.

Quiet lad I was.
(British Steel was participating in awesomeness on, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 5:03, Reply)

Hmmm
As a wee nipper I once met a new-age christian woman dressed in tie dye.

Very bizarre habit.
(British Steel was participating in awesomeness on, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 4:56, Reply)

Passive aggresive smoking
I don't like smoking , the smell , the taste , the way it lingers and how
it makes everyone who does smoke seem that little bit cooler than me.

Well when i'm on a night out with the people who can abide my presence (i suppose you'd call them friends)i get rather spivved and decide its a good idea to go into the smoking area , inhale all there smoke and come home like the smoking ban had never happened at all.

I do it everytime and i hate myself for it.
(shake'n'bake Tally Ho, Biatch!, Sat 3 Jul 2010, 3:35, Reply)

One habit I have had since childhood is that I clasp and squirm my hands if I am happy or excited.
I don't tend to do so much now since it has been pointed out to me.

Sometimes if I thing I am either alone/unnoticed sometimes I vocalise my stream of thoughts. This can cause some consternation if turns out I am not alone. The weird thing is that it is something I picked up from Mr Cockroach-Sombrero so it's possble that habits are catching.

Also if Mr C-S tells a terrible joke I punch him in the nose. But I cannot be bothered to get up and punch him so I make him walk into my fist instead. A joint bizarre habit.


First post so hello lovely b3tans!
(Cockroach-Sombrero Cook Pass Babtridge, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 23:21, Reply)

Triggered phrases
You know the way some people have phrases that they repeat when a certain evert happens, if you throw something in a bin from further than five foot they scream "goal!"

Back in at the birth of VHS only one of my friends had a video so we would all go round to his to watch movies. His dad had a couple of choice phrases that he would be throw out during a film.

If the hero got a good witty line or shot the bad guy, my mates dad would scream "go on you good thing!". Best of all was the point in most eighties movies, the unnecessary but welcome moment when the woman gets her chest puppies out.

This caused my mates dad to shout at his wife "mammy, tittys on the telly, tittys on the telly!"

Nobody in their family found this odd.
(cname, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 23:04, Reply)

I asked the boyf...
...if I had any OCD type behaviour worthy of adding to this QOTW challenge but he refused to answer.

Not sure what to make of that.
( fluffymitten NAN, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 22:36, 2 replies)

The odd tile
In the bathroom of a friends house, there is one patterned tile above the bath that has been put on upside down.
For some reason this really niggles me when i'm in there, and i cant stop looking at it without wanting to rip it off and put it back on the right way.
So ive got into the habit of trying not to go to the bathroom while I'm there and if I really have to I draw the shower curtain across with my eyes closed so I dont see it.
Its weird i know
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 22:12, Reply)

(edited for accuracy, following calamarain's post above)

I don't like drinking a drink if anyone else has taken even the tiniest sip from it. On reflection, I certainly would if I had to; it's just that I'm overcautious.

It's based on the thought of swallowing someone else's very-diluted mouth-rinsings, and the not entirely remote possibility of infection with things like colds or mouth ulcers.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 21:59, 2 replies)

I'm left-handed and so is my husband
I'd ALWAYS slept on the left side of the bed until we met 5 years ago, he insists he should sleep that side. Being on the right just unsettles me but really both of us should want the right side, as we're left-handed and it's easier to reach the table that way.

I also have to salute magpies and cannot walk across 3 drains because it's bad luck.

Which isn't so bad compared to what my mum has been through as she actually has OCD. She used to have to clean things an even number of times, once cleaning the bath multiple times at 2am. She's also been known to leave the house and have to return because she hasn't cleaned things an even number of times. In recent years she's got it down to doing things twice which is as good as it gets I think.
(Chicken Little This signature has been left blank., Fri 2 Jul 2010, 21:57, 4 replies)

Terrotorial
When I visit some friends I cannot go straight into their lounge. I have to spend a few minutes in the kitchen first, then through the dining room to the far end of the lounge before I can settle.
(jvz, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 21:27, 2 replies)

Work creation scheme
As part of a colleague's job he has to fill in a form and then email it to another location which could easily be done as an attachment. He prints the form, scans it back into the computer and emails the scan!
It has been pointed out to him and what is even stranger is that in a former life this individual was IT support.
(jvz, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 21:21, Reply)

Making it worse
I don't think that reading this QOTW is a particularly good idea for OCD sufferers. It's just going to give us a whole load of new ones!

Perhaps that's the idea...




:)
(Dr. Scambolic, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 20:50, Reply)

Pavement obstacle course
I can't walk over 3 grids on the pavement. The very thought of it gives me the heebie jeebies. I've done it ever since I was a kid and can't shake it even now I'm on the should know better side of 30.

Oh, and walking under those road signs that go over the pavements ruins your sex life.
(mallory, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 20:48, 4 replies)

Hairy Hands
I have a thing about hairy hands, can't stand it so every few days I find myself shaving the back of my hands
( discobunnywalker, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 20:21, 3 replies)

Repeating patterns
In wallpapers, carpets etc.

I always have to go cross eyed and see how perfectly they're repeated. Thanks to that stereogram craze in the 1990s which got me subconsciously addicted to doing so. Drives me mad if someone has used identical tiles in a bathroom and stuck them in random orientations!

I'm a whiz at those "Spot the difference" puzzles though.


Edit: 2 more... (3 habits for the price of one) - There is never an ale bottle leaves my hand without me having seen how easily the label peels off. And finally, as I tend to wear shirts more than once before washing (seems Americans in particular would never dream of this?) a hangar with the hook pointing inwards means it's been worn. Outwards, it hasn't. Don't mess with the hooks.
(Cloudane, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 20:04, 2 replies)

I like to take the third item back from the shelf in supermarkets, spit in it, put it back and then take the second one instead.

( fuck shit up the best you never had, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 19:41, 5 replies)