Saturday, February 18, 2006

Routine occurrences

It is amazing and sometimes amusing the routines we can fall into. Some of these routines are conducive to making things run more efficiently. Others are not. Take for instance my and a friend of mine’s routines for entering the house.
When I get home I walk down the sidewalk with my house key in my left hand. My right hand is reaching for the mailbox while my eyes scan the door for any notes left by visitors or the UPS man. I enter the house and turn immediately to the table next to the door with a small wooden box on it. Into this box goes my keys, change, pocket knife, wallet, notepad, ink pen, and whatever else may be in my pockets. I also put my cell phone holder in there. Now when I leave the apartment again I only have to stop at the box and load my pockets and head out. Nice and efficient.
Now my friend, on the other hand, has a slightly different routine. He walks to the door and stands there for several minutes rummaging through a huge key ring trying to find his key. When he finally gets inside he puts his keys on the first thing he comes to. Then he walks through the house distributing at random the contents of his pockets. There is no limit as to where these items my be placed. Now when he is ready to leave, he, his wife, his two children, myself (If I am over at his house at the time), half of the NC National Guard, three neighbors, four blood hounds, nine cats, and six CIA spy satellites are tasked to scour the house in search of various items. The search can last for a few seconds or may last a good part of the day. I am sure that over half of his cell phone minutes are used up when his wife calls it from the home phone trying to find out where it is hidden.
Two different routines. Two different results. So the next time you pick on someone for being a creature of habit be careful. Their habits may just be more efficient than your non habits.

3 comments:

Terri said...

I stumbled here by clicking "Next Blog." I usually don't have good luck but this time I did. You know what? My husband would LOVE that war wagon. Personally, I just don't get it. But I had to smile when I saw that picture because I know my husband would be in heaven to have that vehicle. We had (well HE had) something similar a few years ago but we ended up having to sell it. We have four dogs - (well HE has) so he loved taking the dogs to the beach in the back. I guess it's a male thing..the war wagon I mean. Anyway, enjoyed your writing and your kids are beautiful.

UncleWillie said...

Thanks, I wish the WarWagon still looked that good. Years of use and abuse have taken their toll on her. Come back and read some more./

c2much said...

I've never lost anything that I missed terribly I guess. That is other than my wallet:)