We all have things we’re a little particular about. Sometimes, it borders on extreme and warrants an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) diagnosis. But most of us just fixate on an issue or two, and are, what I like to call, “sprinkled” with the OCD dust.

Personally, I am fastidious over the manner in which my money gets placed in my wallet. I can barely enter REM sleep unless I know all of my bills are lined up – dress-right-dress, in ascending order and facing in the same direction.

When a store clerk hands me back bills in disarray, I’ve been known to hold up the line. I will not depart my queue until I have restored order to the bills and properly aligned them in my wallet. 

Weird, I know, but it is just how my brain is wired.

I’m also unyielding when it comes to my technique for eating corn on the cob. I can only eat it left to right, in a row, like you’d read a book. I can’t comprehend how people – like my kids – will just attack theirs randomly, biting into it in a non-strategic, haphazard manner.

Again, it’s kind of weird, I know, but it is just how my brain is wired.

My freshman year of college, I had a roommate who was definitely more than sprinkled with the OCD dust. In hindsight, she was textbook, DSM-IV-certifiable. Each time she’d walk into our dorm room, which was shared by three of us, she’d immediately ensure that all of the dresser drawers were completely shut, the items on her desk were properly aligned and that every fringe on the throw rug was perfectly straight. And then, she’d wash her hands multiple times. 

The two of us who weren’t as persnickety (i.e., slovenly pigs whose housekeeping habits she deplored) would stare, riveted by her routine.  Sometimes when she’d step out, we’d attempt to jerry-rig the room with subtle disorder (like moving a stapler to a different part of her desk) to see if she’d later hone in on the discrepancies. To our great amusement, she’d always notice and correct anything we’d try to pull over on her, no matter how slight.  

Her attention to detail paid off for her though, as today, she is a very successful optometrist in Dallas who also happens to own a lot of stock in Purell.

So, Patch readers, tell us in the comments below …

What are you particular about or what are your idiosyncrasies? What drives you crazy if it’s not a certain way?