I’m a pilot. At a drive through, I read back the price as a matter of reflex.

I’ve been the electronic security game for about 25 years and I swear I instinctively notice and look directly at every video camera in every building I enter, and I swear if anybody noticed they’d think I’m casing the joint.

When I get in the car, I hit the blinker lever by instinct because on a forklift it puts you into forward or reverse gear.

I’m a software developer. I get very agitated when I have to sit next to someone who operates their computer slowly.

I’m in IT. My personal laptop is perennially broken because I. cannot. stop. tinkering.

entering a home or commercial/retail building and noticing everything that needs to be fixed or maintained, listening for running water around fixtures, etc.

There was a time when I looked at LCD screens I saw all the defects.

Doing Uber in a very red state, I have to bite my tongue when people bring up politics. It’s turned into me not talking about it around friends who share my beliefs for the most part. And it kinda sucks, cause I really did enjoy a good debate.

My job is to do weather observations every half an hour, or when the situation changes drastically enough to warrant an update. I used to get a bit stressed out about noticing the clock approach one of the routine times while not at work (because that’s when I haven’t been keeping an eye on the sky so oh shit now I gotta figure it out fast!), but I think I’ve gotten mostly out of that pavlovian response. Many of my colleagues say that they also get this. But the phone alarm (a manufacturer default) that goes off at that time as a reminder definitely triggers it. Luckily I’ve only heard it like once or twice outside of work.

I’ve been working in high acuity psychiatry for 10 years. I notice when doors don’t click shut behind me and if I don’t hear a solid click or an electric lock whirring sound I get the urge to check the handle, even at home / in my apartment complex. I can feel people behind me on the street if they’re closer than about 20 feet back. I don’t like sitting without a wall behind me (it was weird going back to school and explaining that my ADHD preferential seating accommodation was the back row, not the front).

I used to do order picking in a large warehouse. We used headphones that told you were to go. You could also give verbal commands liek “repeat”. So after a week or so I started “repeat”-ing my mom when I didn’t hear what she said.

Decades of working IT in various capacities including a lot of support roles at various levels have led me to usually suspect that anyone coming to to me saying that they can’t get something to work is doing something wrong, regardless if it’s IT or something else completely unrelated.

This is often combined with me trying to suggest possible solutions whenever someone complains or vents. This one drives my wife crazy sometimes and she’s had to teach me that sometimes she just wants emotional support and solidarity rather than possible ways to fix whatever she is venting about.

Not catching things. I worked at a leather shop with a lot of very sharp things.

I will just watch stuff fall. Even if it’s a friend tossing me my keys or something. Watch it sail thru the air and land right on the ground. Then I normally say “don’t throw shit at me” as their regular reminder that my instinct isn’t to catch things.

Also the phrase “heads up” doesn’t encourage me to catch something either. It encourages me to check the position of me feet for possible stabs.

Decades later I still sort books when I go to a bookstore.

I can’t watch anyone cook without steeling myself from mentioning their risky knife grip, mess-inducing lack of flow, slapdash mis, etc. 😵‍💫 On the positive side, I always call my status (“behind”, “hot”, “knife”, etc.)