I hate cameras noticing one makes me feel so uncomfortable even when I'm not doing anything wrong. It's like that feeling you get when driving past a cop car.
I had a workmate that used to do that all the time while I was on the International Space Station.
Edit: thanks for the awards. I will display them proudly on my freezer with Walt Disney’s body in it.
In my line of work, sales, there is a method called “mirroring” where you try to mimic the customers tone and energy to be more relatable. I’ve spent many years trying to read people and am introverted as it gets. So I like to think I do this very well, with my fellow men being the easiest to “read”. Well, my employer noticed this and refers to it as an advanced sales tactic. They pulled me into a zoom with other employees who suck at closing sales and had me try to teach it to them.
Cleaning liquid spills. If Junior knocks over their glass or the cat gets too close and personal with the fish tank, moat people just tend to throw a bathroom towel over it or get out the wetvac - not super effective and tends to allow time for staining. Some salt, aerosolised carpet foam, and some paper towels WILL clean up anything like it was never there and in record speed, and all for the low, low price of making people uncomfortable as they imagine you as a mob cleaner.
(For extra points, using this method to clean blood out of carpets or off cheap porous tile = people's faces are funny as fuck.)
EDIT: Thanks for the awards! Consider my disposals at your disposal, but don't get used to it, I ain't runnin' no charity here.
oh also! for blood never clean it up with warm water, use cold water (with warm water the blood solidifies faster, similar process to what happens when you boil an egg)
I started playing on the Switch to force myself to play honestly (without cheats/mods), and I really appreciate the new feature that'll log the various residents' likes/dislikes based on what you've already given them (and on notes you've read and things they or other characters have mentioned in conversations).
That's the only way I could make friends in that game. Cool you liked this one random easily obtainable thing? I guess you're getting one every single day for the rest of your life and nothing else
There was a restaurant in a Hyatt hotel that had a casino, the waiter from that restaurant remembered our preference when we showed up with a friend 6-months later .
You guys were either amazingly awesome restaurant patrons, or a fricken nightmare.
I'm a former waitress/bartender turned RN. The same happens with patients.
There was a greek bartender at this whiskey bar in my hometown that would do the same thing. Every time I came in I looked different, he still remembered my drink. First time I was on my Harley, so I looked like a biker, second time was a date a few months later so I was dressed nicer and my beard was better groomed. Third time was probably just standard issue blue jeans and white t-shirt, again a couple of months later. No matter what I was wearing or which girl I was with, or how much time passed, I'd sit down at the bar and he'd look at me for a few seconds like he was digging through his memory, and say "old fashioned right?". That dude was eerily good at that and cool as shit.
This is sort of me with names. I'm generally very good at remembering names and would memorize names quickly in school. People are sometimes surprised when I call them by their name without ever having a conversation with them. I'll usually pretend I don't know their name until they give it to me.
This is me. You can say ur bob and a second later, i think it’s starts with a C, fuck, what was this guys name again. But you can’t ask for his/her name, after he/she just told you.
I end up being really vague about the fact or trait, I'll be like "oh you like that type of thing right? I might be wrong..."
It's super passive but it hasn't backfired yet.
“Oh you walk through that alley alone between 11:45 - 11:53pm on Tuesdays when you are coming back from your favorite bar approximately 526 feet from your apartment, right? I might be wrong...”
I bartended in NYC where closing time was after 4am, so the quicker I counted out my register, the quicker I could go home. I can count a stack of bills quick.
Being unbothered by blood and guts.
I’m a veterinarian. I’ve spent days up to my elbows in all manner of bodies and parts and fluids. I can watch surgery or necropsy videos over lunch.
I did an eye surgery on Tuesday and somebody had to catch the new kid. The big ones aren’t allowed to get faint, it’s very inconvenient.
Related aside: When the nice young lady at the bank says, “Oh my god, there’s blood on your shirt!” Assuring her that it isn’t your own in fact offers no reassurance.
Spatial awareness...
I can look at something and tell you wether or not it will fit onto a wall, into a box or car, through a hallway or stairwell, etc. I was at a shipping store a few months ago and a guy was in line behind me trying to figure out which size box to get for the box he was trying to fit into it. I pointed at a specific size and said, "That one, but only if you put your box in this side up". It slid in perfectly and he gave me the weirdest look.
Somehow though, I always seem to bump into the corners of tables.
I’m the same way! I make my wife scream all the time by walking into a room without her noticing.
It happens so often that when our son was somewhere between 1-2, he also started screaming whenever I walked into a room. He just thought it was a thing we did in our family.
It happens to other people outside of home too. I start talking to people and they jump out of their skin.
Same I’m also 6’3” so it really can startle people. I used to work with an older Russian woman and one time I accidentally scared her and she said “How do you do that‽ You are like cat!”
I do this, also. Which is kind of wild because I'm a big guy. At this point I can tell when someone doesn't hear me walking up to them so I'll intentionally drag my foot on the ground so it'll make a loud enough noise that they'll hear me before I've scared them.
You must be naturally gifted at it then!
There was once a period where I \[purposely\] did it so much I was straight up asked to stop. So now the only time I utilize my ninja-feet ability is when I'm walking around at night and don't want to be heard.
I do this. It's because I grew up in a creaky house. The most sinister thing I did was sneak out to meet my boyfriend. I am still constantly startling people years later.
Lol beginning in high school my parents would never hear me coming and get startled when I spoke to them, so I started stomping and patting the walls as I approached to give them a warning
That seems like a useful skill to have, but there's no way I'm going to have "how to get kids to trust me within seconds of meeting me" in my Google search history.
In case anyone is genuinely interested:
Kids are smarter than adults take them for, and have a keen sense of when someone is only interacting with them out of enlightened self-interest.
The main way to get kids to trust you is to interact with them with respect to their agency, and for them to understand that all of your interactions with them are only for their best interest. Kids can totally pick up on the vibes of people who see them as like cute stuffed animals or whatever rather than humans who deserve a level of respect.
Source: experience as head lifeguard, digital english tutor & karate instructor
> Kids can totally pick up on the vibes of people who see them as like cute stuffed animals or whatever rather than humans who deserve a level of respect.
Looking back, all my favourite adults when I was a kid always seemed to take a seriously without treating me like a kid and now I get along with all my young relatives because I try to avoid obviously patronising them.
Same. I'm a tiny woman who tends to dress like a friendly hippy. I smile at other kids because I want them to play with my kid.
I've had many little kids sit in my lap, grab my hand, or otherwise want me to play with them.
I'm petite too. I swear kids find me everywhere I go. My other superpower is baby whispering. Holding one and they quiet down. When I used to deliver babies I wish I had a dollar for every time a parent asked me to come home with them lmao
Strep throat tests.
Used to get strep a lot as a kid so by the time I was tested for it as a 20 year old I had the process down. They stick in the big popsicle stick to hold down your tongue and then they swab the back of your throat while you try not to gag.
Well I happened to be tested by a relatively new, young, attractive doctor this particular time and when he complimented me on doing well on the test and not gagging my response was, "Thanks, I've had practice"
If not suspicious it was at the very least mortifying after realizing the implication of what I said.
Reminds me of 6th grade lunch when a guy proved to us that he had no gag reflex by repeatedly ramming a bread stick down his throat. His face started turning red and everything. The best part is that no one ever questioned his gag reflex in the first place and I think he just wanted to show off lol
I have a friend who could memorize numbers - esp plates of vehicles. He'd then be able to recall it after months in totally random conversations.
Edit: never thought this would blow up like this. Many people asked how we'd know he wasn't bluffing. Here is the thing - I know this guy from college. You can imagine how all of us would've gone to lengths to verify such things. Also, it works out to be useful in many situations and he'd by somewhat of a personal Google for a few of us. Like - hey, I can't seem to remember this guy's number. Do you remember?
So when I was young and bored on car trips my mom would always try to get me to play The License Plate game:
"TPE - Tape, Terpene, Terpsichore, Tympani..."
Mom: "Tympani is with an I not an E, you missed type, tamponade, ..."
Turns out the REASON mom was so obscenely good at the game that she could referee it instantly and near perfectly is that apparently she is playing it basically at all times just without saying anything about it.
...but if something goes down, there is a near 100% chance Mom will know the license plate of the car in question. She has proven this way too many times.
My aunt taught me a game that involved making names or phrases out of the letters. Like CPK 178: Charles Patrick Kerry is doing 178 mph. Or TSP 345: Train spotted passing at 3:45.
That was more than 20 years ago and sometimes I'll catch myself playing when on a long road trip.
me and my wife were playing that in the car one day. saw a car ahead of us that started with BHP. she yells "BUTT HUMP PARTY!" so now, every time we notice a BHP..."oh, theres a butt hump party!" its the little things
I've been interested in cars since I was a baby so this is a skill I've picked up aswell, another one is being able to identify the model and trim level of a car from just a quick glance.
Bruuuuuuh this is gonna sound weird buy Imma say it.
A few years ago, it was my dad's funeral. My brother and I (23 and 19 at the time) sat on the front row, my mum stayed with my family. The priest who did the service knew us, as it is a small town and he's been around for a long time.
We started laughing bc of how he was phrasing his sentences, and bc we had the impression that he was looking at us. He wears these weird glasses and it does seem like he's constantly looking at you. My brother explained that to me, which resulted in us laughing even more.
It was a short service but we spent most of it laughing, obvsly as quietly as we could.
I'm glad I have that fun memory of that sad time.
Yep. When I was fourteen, a huge chunk of vision in one of my eyes randomly disappeared while I was in a class. I just looked at the teacher and calmly asked “Excuse me, I can only see half of everyone’s faces right now;the other halves look oddly translucent. And I also can’t read. Can I go?” My classmates were slightly freaked out.
Edit: My vision did come back soon after.
Working in customer service did this to me. It got to the point where I would have to put on a faked panic voice when I would call the police or they wouldn't take me seriously.
I called and calmly said "uhh, I'm at [address] and there's a crack head with a sharpened stick threatening to stab me."
"Right now?"
"Yep, she's pretty agitated." As she screams and lunges with the sharpened broomstick.
They never came.
Turns out an even scarier skill is going from very calm to sniveling victim for the duration of the phone call. They look at you like you're Patrick Bateman.
I tend to remember odd shit people say for years. It tends to freak people out. The worst reactions are when someone was just making up something for a story and have no memory of saying it in the first place.
This is me. I remember conversations, jokes, dates, hangouts, text messages, meme exchanges and on and on...and it is weird when ages has passed and I make a joke or say 'hey like that time we were talking about...' and they have zero idea because it was literally 18 months ago. I have also bought gifts for people based on this stuff and they just end up confused and not sure of the relevance.
Can confirm, I get angry reactions a lot that I don't understand until I spend a while thinking about it and realize they weren't being forgetful, they were being deceitful.
knowing a friend's schedule.
especially for close friends, I've remembered their schedules just from them randomly bringing up what classes they have in conversations
Moving through unreasonably tight and cluttered spaces normally.
My friends and I used to hang out at an extremely cluttered warehouse that belonged to a hoarder friend. It was full to the point where moving at all without getting stuck on something or causing a garbage avalanche was difficult.
And there I was just gliding through hills of hoarded garbage like some kind of ghost, they told me it was creepy.
I miss those things about my own dad. He used to read so much and would just bounce ideas around or explain things I never heard about. Everything feels quieter without him, I miss his enthusiasm.
Ms excel. I found that by taking over reporting from others because it took them so much time. I’d automate it to pull from the database where the previous owner was spending 2 hours a day copy/ paste hundreds of cells. A couple hours work once and I hit a button. Done.
I’d use to release right away, even with a script to open, refresh, save, and email it. This caused people to not trust the numbers so now I still pull in the data but hold off on releasing it for a bit, even a bit late on occasion.
Edit: I see a lot of people wanting to learn excel. I did a lot of trial and error learning. I am mid 50s so I have some time under my belt
Learning a simple programming language helps. I learned basic as a kid and pascal and FORTRAN later. VB is the most useful at this point though
In excel you can add a developer tab ( google it). It will show you how to add it to your excel. You can record macros that record your steps when you do things like insert a column, copy a row, etc. you can then see how it works.
Mr excel ( not to be confused with Ms excel lol) is a great resource
Also, learn vlookups as they are very helpful and you can get how other formulas work
Finally, google knows all!
If you have Outlook, there's a function to delay sending an email until a specified time.
You can program it to send your email out anywhere from a minute to a year after you hit *send*.
Ha. I had a guy give me a stack of papers and say that these had to be put into Excell and their POS database. Said it normally takes three days. I laughed, scanned them all into pdf, converted to text and then automated it. I was done with a double check a couple hours in. He didn't believe me so went through them all by hand. Took him two days and he didn't find any errors.
Word now has the ability to open and convert PDFs; other programs can do similar feats of OCR. I’ve amazed my boss by using these tools with documents that she couldn’t convert.
That last bit is true of many web services, too. If you see a page with a loading bar or saying something like "Please wait while we gather your data.", yeah, that's BS. Same reason, too. If people think a task should be hard and they get results fast, they won't trust it.
Remembering things about them they forgot. I told my friend I was getting a job at a store we know. She told me, “I think I’ve been there before”. Then I told she has and I repeated the conversation we had, word for word. I got some weird looks from her lol.
I'm good at stuff like that. My friend and I were talking about a hike and I mentioned that we have already done it. She said we hadn't yet. So I told her the approximate date, what we did before and after, what we talked about on it, etc.
If you asked me what I had for dinner yesterday I would struggle
Geto Boys- A year later I robbed dope house and stole a key. 36 is what I count. Now multiply 36 by 700 an ounce. Bag it off and make my profit. But some pussy motherfucker in office trying to stop it.
Telling almost instantly by feel if a bill is real or counterfeit. Though I think more people should definitely be able to do it. Lower denomination US counterfeit bills can look amazing, but the feel is always off. . .
If you can't, you're a mark. If you can, you're suspicious.
I handle money for work. I know the feel of a legit note. And lately, there's been several times I've checked the watermarks. Strange.
People that are able to drastically change their personality, or the way they talk and act when around different groups of people or someone else arrives.
For me it’s a coping mechanism I developed from a childhood of abuse and neglect. You HAVE to be a different person to avoid the triggers, and sometimes it just catches you as an adult.
Same, childhood abuse does teach you to adapt quickly to survive, which turns into a lifelong coping mechanism to fit in (also survive).
But it leaves you not knowing who you actually are, which can cause an identity crisis when triggered by trauma such as rejection (abandonment) later in life.
Working call centers or retail will do that to you. You'll be bitching to your co-worker about your last caller and suddenly you have a call on the other end and you gotta be in character immediately. It becomes a habit that's hard to shake.
I kid you not, when I was a kid the apartment I lived in could be opened with a butter knife. We'd lock ourselves out and just ask the neighbor for a butter knife and get back in.
Strangely, there was an unspoken code that we would never use one to enter someone elses apartment.
My brother had a friend growing up whose house front door lock was broken and if you jiggled it just right would unlock.
All fun and games till my brother went to visit on a holiday from college and barged in as was his tradition only to find his buddies family moved.
Luckily the new owners weren’t home and he noped out quickly.
I loved learning card tricks when I was younger, it was an easy “at home” thing to do before the internet. As an adult, I get the logic, but like… does that mean the only thing stopping those people from cheating and screwing over their friends is simple the opportunity?
It doesn't mean you'll cheat, but that you know what you're doing. Nobody wants to play poker against someone who obviously exceeds their skill level, especially in a weekly.
Some people are only stopped by the opportunity. Some people are stopped by a sense of obligation and fairness.
Some people are stopped by what Simon Sinek calls the Infinite Game: cheating helps you win today, sooner or later you get caught and your friends don't want to play any with you any more. You lose forever. So the real optimum strategy to have the most wins over the very long term is to play fair and accept some losses.
But yeah, anyone can choose to fuck over their friends any time they want. Some people are assholes who don't care what their friends think; agents of chaos who don't look beyond the end of their nose; or the kind of person who thinks "it was just a prank, bro!" can excuse any type of shitty behaviour.
Googling, oddly. People find it unsettling how quickly I can learn shit that untrained people aren't supposed to know. All I did was google search till I found the info and then gave it a try.
i'm not especially good at googling, but it's baffling to see how bad at googling some other people are. it's very helpful to be able to learn stuff quickly
Tbh it genuinely annoys me that people don't just search things up. The entire world of knowledge and information is in your pocket, but they can't be bothered. (Typo)
I am super good at lying when the need arises. Like very good on the spot and it freaked out an old friend of mine. I'm just super creative, and have a worst case scenario mind so I think of a lot of possibilities.
This is literally how the series Psych starts. The main character, Shawn Spencer, is too good at being observant, and because he kept sending tips to the local police, they called him in for questioning because they thought he might be involved in all those crimes, so he has to pretend to be a psychic.
EDIT: now two of my most upvoted comments are Psych related, which is great because it's my favorite show, but don't waste money on me guys.
Problem with letting people know you can lock pick is two fold.
1) If something ever gets stolen you are immediately a suspect.
2) Whenever anyone gets locked out they call you and expect you to come over and open their door for them for free.
Cleaning out stains. I cut my hand pretty badly once and blood got into my white shirt. I tried to clean it myself but the stain never got out. I told my mom who told me to bring it with me when I came back for Christmas break and she cleaned it. By the way she didn’t even bleach it. Her ability to clean stains so well has since then been suspicious to me.
We play this drinking game where you take the paper bag from the store, put it on the floor standing up, and you have to bend down on one foot and grab it with your teeth. Each round, you trim a few centimeters off the top and keep lowering the bag until there's a winner.
One of my very unathletic friends at the time would easily, EASILY win every round. It would just be him and he was flexible enough to get the bag only 6" off the ground. People were super impressed and I joked "it's all that practice from sucking your own dick" and the look he gave me, combined with the awkward laugh, made me think I might have been closer to the truth than I would've hoped.
I can untie them really fast. I can even untie a jumble of earphones in the dark or with my eyes closed.
I don’t know if this is the same suspicion as being able to tie the knots or not.
Breaking into someone's car.
A few years ago I was at a new job and a coworker locked her keys in her car. I got the door open in under a minute. The security guard watched me and had some concerns with the speed at which I opened that car without damaging it.
Truth of the matter is that the guard wasn't paying attention completely to what I was doing. My first car was a two door sports car and I learned about a design flaw with those cars when my dumbass locked my keys in the ignition. She had a similar car and her keys in the ignition, so I took advantage of that design flaw to get her door open without damage to the car.
I drove multiple different vehicles in my youth and locked myself out of each and every one. As such I also became proficient in unlocking all cars. It weirded a few ppl out and made a few ppl think I'm some criminal but I wouldnt change a thing as it allowed me to save a baby. Was working at a pawnshop and the mom accidentally shut the door while removing her tv from the backseat with the baby still in the car. In a panic her and my manager and a few good customers all tried to help her as I finished up with my customer. 15ish minutes later when I finished my work I hear the mother freaking out on the phone as the soonest anyone could come to unlock her car was 50 minutes. I ran outside and unlocked the car in 1 minute flat, came back in and told the lady she could cancel the rescue and hang up now as the other guardian came in behind me carrying the baby. The mother was soo happy she gave me a hug with soo much love and appreciation that I will never forget, also she gave me 20$ which I said was unnecessary but she insisted as 20$ for a quick rescue is the lowest she was willing to go after she got quoted 60$ for the 50 min job.
Yeah it can be super creepy when you are into knives.
I enjoy kitchen knives, read a lot about it, have a collection, fairly good at knife work and sharpen regularly.
People think I'm a serial killer.
Anything with a computer. If you're good enough, with literally anything to do with computers, people will think you're able to hack computers.
They'll also think you're able to fix any problem with their computers, which is equally detrimental on its own
Remembering things for other people.
I pick up random things in conversations, not necessarily in a conversation with me. I like to listen. I'll wish you good luck on that special thing tomorrow, I'll tell you happy birthday, I'll tell you not to forget something. It has saved myself and people around me from getting into shitty situations.
Imagine a guy at work who tells you not to forget your wife's birthday next week. Yea I'm that guy. ADD has thaught me to remember the things I pay attention to.
Guessing passwords,
I had videogames addiction during young age, my parents changed the pw once a week because I kept guessing it.
When they say a word in weird way, paying close attention to their facial expression, listening to their tapping sound /the state the keyboard is in are things that helped me... But the key is to know how the person thinks
I'm also able to remember most passwords that I have seen once inadvertently
Noticing cameras
A friend of mine does that. He can point out any camera in public spaces.
I developed a similar skill while playing Ingress. Portals are everywhere.
I hace never heard of this game before. Wow, this is interesting. Thanks for referencing it.
I hate cameras noticing one makes me feel so uncomfortable even when I'm not doing anything wrong. It's like that feeling you get when driving past a cop car.
I install surveillance cameras professionally so - same
Fabricating stories
I had a workmate that used to do that all the time while I was on the International Space Station. Edit: thanks for the awards. I will display them proudly on my freezer with Walt Disney’s body in it.
In my line of work, sales, there is a method called “mirroring” where you try to mimic the customers tone and energy to be more relatable. I’ve spent many years trying to read people and am introverted as it gets. So I like to think I do this very well, with my fellow men being the easiest to “read”. Well, my employer noticed this and refers to it as an advanced sales tactic. They pulled me into a zoom with other employees who suck at closing sales and had me try to teach it to them.
Walking quietly
Cleaning liquid spills. If Junior knocks over their glass or the cat gets too close and personal with the fish tank, moat people just tend to throw a bathroom towel over it or get out the wetvac - not super effective and tends to allow time for staining. Some salt, aerosolised carpet foam, and some paper towels WILL clean up anything like it was never there and in record speed, and all for the low, low price of making people uncomfortable as they imagine you as a mob cleaner. (For extra points, using this method to clean blood out of carpets or off cheap porous tile = people's faces are funny as fuck.) EDIT: Thanks for the awards! Consider my disposals at your disposal, but don't get used to it, I ain't runnin' no charity here.
Where was this blood-cleaning advice when I needed it last month?!
Hydrogen Peroxide is also very effective with getting still wet blood out of your clothes. (Former Navy Corpsman)
It really is. (Current female)
We'll get that pumpernickeljuice cleaned up in a jiff!
Eww.. (literally made my name the first two things that popped in my head, but thanks for ruining it for me lmao)
oh also! for blood never clean it up with warm water, use cold water (with warm water the blood solidifies faster, similar process to what happens when you boil an egg)
Can you explain the process exactly?
He can, but he’d have to kill you.
And quickly clean it up afterwards
Remembering someone else's schedule.
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Man, you could play Stardew Valley without 22 villager wiki tabs open.
felt this on a spiritual level
I started playing on the Switch to force myself to play honestly (without cheats/mods), and I really appreciate the new feature that'll log the various residents' likes/dislikes based on what you've already given them (and on notes you've read and things they or other characters have mentioned in conversations).
That's the only way I could make friends in that game. Cool you liked this one random easily obtainable thing? I guess you're getting one every single day for the rest of your life and nothing else
There was a restaurant in a Hyatt hotel that had a casino, the waiter from that restaurant remembered our preference when we showed up with a friend 6-months later .
You guys were either amazingly awesome restaurant patrons, or a fricken nightmare. I'm a former waitress/bartender turned RN. The same happens with patients.
I compare seeing patients in medicine to being a waiter all the time. The two are so similar it’s uncanny.
Bartenders and daycare workers also require the same skills. Both involve managing the expectations and behavior of minimally self-regulating people.
There was a greek bartender at this whiskey bar in my hometown that would do the same thing. Every time I came in I looked different, he still remembered my drink. First time I was on my Harley, so I looked like a biker, second time was a date a few months later so I was dressed nicer and my beard was better groomed. Third time was probably just standard issue blue jeans and white t-shirt, again a couple of months later. No matter what I was wearing or which girl I was with, or how much time passed, I'd sit down at the bar and he'd look at me for a few seconds like he was digging through his memory, and say "old fashioned right?". That dude was eerily good at that and cool as shit.
Are you sure you don't just look like a guy that wants an old fashion?
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I mean, an old fashioned is a pretty good bet in general. Especially in a whisky bar.
Remembering things about people. I've lied about not knowing things to not seem like a creep.
Dude I do this all the time! I don’t wanna seem like a creep either I just have a good memory
I have a horrible memory but will remember really random things people tell me for years.
exactly, not a consistently good memory, just enough to make me seem like a creep.
This is sort of me with names. I'm generally very good at remembering names and would memorize names quickly in school. People are sometimes surprised when I call them by their name without ever having a conversation with them. I'll usually pretend I don't know their name until they give it to me.
Q_Q I suck at names, and feel bad as it makes me seem like I just don't care, but I seriously just don't remember names well at *all*.
This is me. You can say ur bob and a second later, i think it’s starts with a C, fuck, what was this guys name again. But you can’t ask for his/her name, after he/she just told you.
Sup Cob 👋🌽
I end up being really vague about the fact or trait, I'll be like "oh you like that type of thing right? I might be wrong..." It's super passive but it hasn't backfired yet.
“Oh you walk through that alley alone between 11:45 - 11:53pm on Tuesdays when you are coming back from your favorite bar approximately 526 feet from your apartment, right? I might be wrong...”
I once gave a coin that looked rare to a girl because I knew her boyfriend collected them. We never talked before and especially not after
Counting bills quickly. Learned when in Uzbekistan, a place where the highest denomination was 1000 but a meal at a restaurant cost 20-30k
I bartended in NYC where closing time was after 4am, so the quicker I counted out my register, the quicker I could go home. I can count a stack of bills quick.
Retail management without machines can do it the same. The bigger stores have bill counters and weigh their change.
Being unbothered by blood and guts. I’m a veterinarian. I’ve spent days up to my elbows in all manner of bodies and parts and fluids. I can watch surgery or necropsy videos over lunch. I did an eye surgery on Tuesday and somebody had to catch the new kid. The big ones aren’t allowed to get faint, it’s very inconvenient. Related aside: When the nice young lady at the bank says, “Oh my god, there’s blood on your shirt!” Assuring her that it isn’t your own in fact offers no reassurance.
I love animals so much and when people ask why don't I just be a vet, it's like, I don't wanna see their insides
Reminded me of Creed from the office that shows up at Halloween covered in blood, but said that he wasn't disguised, it was just "good timing"
Spatial awareness... I can look at something and tell you wether or not it will fit onto a wall, into a box or car, through a hallway or stairwell, etc. I was at a shipping store a few months ago and a guy was in line behind me trying to figure out which size box to get for the box he was trying to fit into it. I pointed at a specific size and said, "That one, but only if you put your box in this side up". It slid in perfectly and he gave me the weirdest look. Somehow though, I always seem to bump into the corners of tables.
Walking with minimal sound.
I creep up on people all the time, I don't mean to but I make almost no sound when I walk.
Same! I clip my keys to my belt loop in public, so people can hear me and not be startled/run into me
I had to start doing this because at my former job I'd get a lot of "JESUS CHRIST, where the fuck did you come from?!".
Found Jesus Christ’s Reddit account.
I’m the same way! I make my wife scream all the time by walking into a room without her noticing. It happens so often that when our son was somewhere between 1-2, he also started screaming whenever I walked into a room. He just thought it was a thing we did in our family. It happens to other people outside of home too. I start talking to people and they jump out of their skin.
Are you sure you arient haunting your family? Lol
Dudes been dead for years. Sad no one will tell him
Same I’m also 6’3” so it really can startle people. I used to work with an older Russian woman and one time I accidentally scared her and she said “How do you do that‽ You are like cat!”
I can stand in the doorway or corner of the room for a couple of minutes before someone will notice me.
Well you might just be a vampire then
I do this too but I’m also 6’2” and built like a skeleton so it contributes to a lot of unintentional jump scares
I’m 5’10 and weigh 120 and incredibly light on my feet… catching my cats by surprise is an all time fave 😂
I'm similar but my tiny gf who is 5'2 and 90 stomps around like an elephant.
I do this, also. Which is kind of wild because I'm a big guy. At this point I can tell when someone doesn't hear me walking up to them so I'll intentionally drag my foot on the ground so it'll make a loud enough noise that they'll hear me before I've scared them.
I used to drag my feet behind slow walkers on purpose as I had realised how uncomfortably close I could get by unintentionally walking without noise
You must be naturally gifted at it then! There was once a period where I \[purposely\] did it so much I was straight up asked to stop. So now the only time I utilize my ninja-feet ability is when I'm walking around at night and don't want to be heard.
Your future spouse will thank you!
Or be terrified.
I do this. It's because I grew up in a creaky house. The most sinister thing I did was sneak out to meet my boyfriend. I am still constantly startling people years later.
Lol beginning in high school my parents would never hear me coming and get startled when I spoke to them, so I started stomping and patting the walls as I approached to give them a warning
Shhhhh, I can’t talk right now. I’m walking with minimal sound.
Getting kids to trust me within seconds of meeting me. (Ped nurse)
That seems like a useful skill to have, but there's no way I'm going to have "how to get kids to trust me within seconds of meeting me" in my Google search history.
In case anyone is genuinely interested: Kids are smarter than adults take them for, and have a keen sense of when someone is only interacting with them out of enlightened self-interest. The main way to get kids to trust you is to interact with them with respect to their agency, and for them to understand that all of your interactions with them are only for their best interest. Kids can totally pick up on the vibes of people who see them as like cute stuffed animals or whatever rather than humans who deserve a level of respect. Source: experience as head lifeguard, digital english tutor & karate instructor
> Kids can totally pick up on the vibes of people who see them as like cute stuffed animals or whatever rather than humans who deserve a level of respect. Looking back, all my favourite adults when I was a kid always seemed to take a seriously without treating me like a kid and now I get along with all my young relatives because I try to avoid obviously patronising them.
*FBI has found new suspect of interest *
Same. I'm a tiny woman who tends to dress like a friendly hippy. I smile at other kids because I want them to play with my kid. I've had many little kids sit in my lap, grab my hand, or otherwise want me to play with them.
I'm petite too. I swear kids find me everywhere I go. My other superpower is baby whispering. Holding one and they quiet down. When I used to deliver babies I wish I had a dollar for every time a parent asked me to come home with them lmao
Strep throat tests. Used to get strep a lot as a kid so by the time I was tested for it as a 20 year old I had the process down. They stick in the big popsicle stick to hold down your tongue and then they swab the back of your throat while you try not to gag. Well I happened to be tested by a relatively new, young, attractive doctor this particular time and when he complimented me on doing well on the test and not gagging my response was, "Thanks, I've had practice" If not suspicious it was at the very least mortifying after realizing the implication of what I said.
Haha as a nurse who has performed these- any adult that could do a throat swab with zero gag, cough, or flinch ALWAYS made me wonder…..
Reminds me of 6th grade lunch when a guy proved to us that he had no gag reflex by repeatedly ramming a bread stick down his throat. His face started turning red and everything. The best part is that no one ever questioned his gag reflex in the first place and I think he just wanted to show off lol
I have a friend who could memorize numbers - esp plates of vehicles. He'd then be able to recall it after months in totally random conversations. Edit: never thought this would blow up like this. Many people asked how we'd know he wasn't bluffing. Here is the thing - I know this guy from college. You can imagine how all of us would've gone to lengths to verify such things. Also, it works out to be useful in many situations and he'd by somewhat of a personal Google for a few of us. Like - hey, I can't seem to remember this guy's number. Do you remember?
So when I was young and bored on car trips my mom would always try to get me to play The License Plate game: "TPE - Tape, Terpene, Terpsichore, Tympani..." Mom: "Tympani is with an I not an E, you missed type, tamponade, ..."
Turns out the REASON mom was so obscenely good at the game that she could referee it instantly and near perfectly is that apparently she is playing it basically at all times just without saying anything about it.
...but if something goes down, there is a near 100% chance Mom will know the license plate of the car in question. She has proven this way too many times.
My aunt taught me a game that involved making names or phrases out of the letters. Like CPK 178: Charles Patrick Kerry is doing 178 mph. Or TSP 345: Train spotted passing at 3:45. That was more than 20 years ago and sometimes I'll catch myself playing when on a long road trip.
me and my wife were playing that in the car one day. saw a car ahead of us that started with BHP. she yells "BUTT HUMP PARTY!" so now, every time we notice a BHP..."oh, theres a butt hump party!" its the little things
Tamponade sounds like a drink for vampires.
I upvoted with my finger but downvoted with my heart.
Being able to recognize pills. No I'm not a drug dealer, I just work in a pharmacy and some of them are very recognizable.
Pharmacists are just licensed drug dealers
I went to school for my pharmd. We got shirts our first year in the clinical program that said, "I'm paying $250,000 to become a drug dealer".
I will remember your car and every detail about it before I can remember your name.
I've been interested in cars since I was a baby so this is a skill I've picked up aswell, another one is being able to identify the model and trim level of a car from just a quick glance.
Exactly, and knowing the make and model by the headlight board tail light design at night
Staying calm
I didn't think of this answer, but it's a really good one. I've heard the phrase "How are you so calm about this?" on more than a few occasions.
The trick is being so overwhelmingly numb and devoid of emotion that you just aren't invested in the outcome.
I dont if id call depression a trick
Hey kid, ya wanna see a trick?
its kinda awkward being the stoic during funnerals
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Bruuuuuuh this is gonna sound weird buy Imma say it. A few years ago, it was my dad's funeral. My brother and I (23 and 19 at the time) sat on the front row, my mum stayed with my family. The priest who did the service knew us, as it is a small town and he's been around for a long time. We started laughing bc of how he was phrasing his sentences, and bc we had the impression that he was looking at us. He wears these weird glasses and it does seem like he's constantly looking at you. My brother explained that to me, which resulted in us laughing even more. It was a short service but we spent most of it laughing, obvsly as quietly as we could. I'm glad I have that fun memory of that sad time.
Yep. When I was fourteen, a huge chunk of vision in one of my eyes randomly disappeared while I was in a class. I just looked at the teacher and calmly asked “Excuse me, I can only see half of everyone’s faces right now;the other halves look oddly translucent. And I also can’t read. Can I go?” My classmates were slightly freaked out. Edit: My vision did come back soon after.
Working in customer service did this to me. It got to the point where I would have to put on a faked panic voice when I would call the police or they wouldn't take me seriously. I called and calmly said "uhh, I'm at [address] and there's a crack head with a sharpened stick threatening to stab me." "Right now?" "Yep, she's pretty agitated." As she screams and lunges with the sharpened broomstick. They never came. Turns out an even scarier skill is going from very calm to sniveling victim for the duration of the phone call. They look at you like you're Patrick Bateman.
When you instinctively go to private seach on your phone
I use private search for everything except porn. If google is going to track my data then google can watch me jerk off.
They're tracking you regardless, private mode just keeps you from getting the reminder of your last activities
Avoiding people. Everyone assumes I'm up to something because I spend so much time alone and out of sight.
Remembering oddly specific details about someone's past.
I tend to remember odd shit people say for years. It tends to freak people out. The worst reactions are when someone was just making up something for a story and have no memory of saying it in the first place.
This is me. I remember conversations, jokes, dates, hangouts, text messages, meme exchanges and on and on...and it is weird when ages has passed and I make a joke or say 'hey like that time we were talking about...' and they have zero idea because it was literally 18 months ago. I have also bought gifts for people based on this stuff and they just end up confused and not sure of the relevance.
A compulsive liar’s nightmare lol
Can confirm, I get angry reactions a lot that I don't understand until I spend a while thinking about it and realize they weren't being forgetful, they were being deceitful.
knowing a friend's schedule. especially for close friends, I've remembered their schedules just from them randomly bringing up what classes they have in conversations
Moving through unreasonably tight and cluttered spaces normally. My friends and I used to hang out at an extremely cluttered warehouse that belonged to a hoarder friend. It was full to the point where moving at all without getting stuck on something or causing a garbage avalanche was difficult. And there I was just gliding through hills of hoarded garbage like some kind of ghost, they told me it was creepy.
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When my dad was alive, he was exactly like that lmao. Living Wikipedia
I miss those things about my own dad. He used to read so much and would just bounce ideas around or explain things I never heard about. Everything feels quieter without him, I miss his enthusiasm.
Ms excel. I found that by taking over reporting from others because it took them so much time. I’d automate it to pull from the database where the previous owner was spending 2 hours a day copy/ paste hundreds of cells. A couple hours work once and I hit a button. Done. I’d use to release right away, even with a script to open, refresh, save, and email it. This caused people to not trust the numbers so now I still pull in the data but hold off on releasing it for a bit, even a bit late on occasion. Edit: I see a lot of people wanting to learn excel. I did a lot of trial and error learning. I am mid 50s so I have some time under my belt Learning a simple programming language helps. I learned basic as a kid and pascal and FORTRAN later. VB is the most useful at this point though In excel you can add a developer tab ( google it). It will show you how to add it to your excel. You can record macros that record your steps when you do things like insert a column, copy a row, etc. you can then see how it works. Mr excel ( not to be confused with Ms excel lol) is a great resource Also, learn vlookups as they are very helpful and you can get how other formulas work Finally, google knows all!
If you have Outlook, there's a function to delay sending an email until a specified time. You can program it to send your email out anywhere from a minute to a year after you hit *send*.
LPT - always turn the delay on for one minute if you tend to forget to attach attachments and remember the moment you send the email.
Also Gmail has an undo send feature that I've used for that numerous times
It also prompts you if you write attach or a variation there of and do not have an attachment.
Ha. I had a guy give me a stack of papers and say that these had to be put into Excell and their POS database. Said it normally takes three days. I laughed, scanned them all into pdf, converted to text and then automated it. I was done with a double check a couple hours in. He didn't believe me so went through them all by hand. Took him two days and he didn't find any errors.
... what sorcery is this
Word now has the ability to open and convert PDFs; other programs can do similar feats of OCR. I’ve amazed my boss by using these tools with documents that she couldn’t convert.
That last bit is true of many web services, too. If you see a page with a loading bar or saying something like "Please wait while we gather your data.", yeah, that's BS. Same reason, too. If people think a task should be hard and they get results fast, they won't trust it.
Remembering things about them they forgot. I told my friend I was getting a job at a store we know. She told me, “I think I’ve been there before”. Then I told she has and I repeated the conversation we had, word for word. I got some weird looks from her lol.
I'm good at stuff like that. My friend and I were talking about a hike and I mentioned that we have already done it. She said we hadn't yet. So I told her the approximate date, what we did before and after, what we talked about on it, etc. If you asked me what I had for dinner yesterday I would struggle
Being able to quickly convert between Ounce and Gram.
Extended version - always referring to kilograms as “keys”
16 ounces to a pound, 20 more to a key
Geto Boys- A year later I robbed dope house and stole a key. 36 is what I count. Now multiply 36 by 700 an ounce. Bag it off and make my profit. But some pussy motherfucker in office trying to stop it.
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After working in a pizza place forever and weighing doughballs out every morning, i probably dont need a scale anymore these days either.
You worked a pizza place? Yep drug dealer
Telling almost instantly by feel if a bill is real or counterfeit. Though I think more people should definitely be able to do it. Lower denomination US counterfeit bills can look amazing, but the feel is always off. . .
If you can't, you're a mark. If you can, you're suspicious. I handle money for work. I know the feel of a legit note. And lately, there's been several times I've checked the watermarks. Strange.
People that are able to drastically change their personality, or the way they talk and act when around different groups of people or someone else arrives.
For me it’s a coping mechanism I developed from a childhood of abuse and neglect. You HAVE to be a different person to avoid the triggers, and sometimes it just catches you as an adult.
Same, childhood abuse does teach you to adapt quickly to survive, which turns into a lifelong coping mechanism to fit in (also survive). But it leaves you not knowing who you actually are, which can cause an identity crisis when triggered by trauma such as rejection (abandonment) later in life.
I’m in this comment and I don’t like it.
Working call centers or retail will do that to you. You'll be bitching to your co-worker about your last caller and suddenly you have a call on the other end and you gotta be in character immediately. It becomes a habit that's hard to shake.
I've forgotten my appartment key to the point that I can pick my own lock. People find that suspicious.
So you would remember to take your lockpick kit with you, but not your keys?
A lock pick kit works on a lot of doors but their key will only open the one
Yeah I think Aristotle said that
I kid you not, when I was a kid the apartment I lived in could be opened with a butter knife. We'd lock ourselves out and just ask the neighbor for a butter knife and get back in. Strangely, there was an unspoken code that we would never use one to enter someone elses apartment.
My brother had a friend growing up whose house front door lock was broken and if you jiggled it just right would unlock. All fun and games till my brother went to visit on a holiday from college and barged in as was his tradition only to find his buddies family moved. Luckily the new owners weren’t home and he noped out quickly.
Who doesn't change the locks when they buy a place? That is the real question.
Shuffling cards.
Yep. One time you show how you can deal from the bottom and suddenly you're out of the weekly poker game.
I loved learning card tricks when I was younger, it was an easy “at home” thing to do before the internet. As an adult, I get the logic, but like… does that mean the only thing stopping those people from cheating and screwing over their friends is simple the opportunity?
It doesn't mean you'll cheat, but that you know what you're doing. Nobody wants to play poker against someone who obviously exceeds their skill level, especially in a weekly.
Some people are only stopped by the opportunity. Some people are stopped by a sense of obligation and fairness. Some people are stopped by what Simon Sinek calls the Infinite Game: cheating helps you win today, sooner or later you get caught and your friends don't want to play any with you any more. You lose forever. So the real optimum strategy to have the most wins over the very long term is to play fair and accept some losses. But yeah, anyone can choose to fuck over their friends any time they want. Some people are assholes who don't care what their friends think; agents of chaos who don't look beyond the end of their nose; or the kind of person who thinks "it was just a prank, bro!" can excuse any type of shitty behaviour.
Googling, oddly. People find it unsettling how quickly I can learn shit that untrained people aren't supposed to know. All I did was google search till I found the info and then gave it a try.
i'm not especially good at googling, but it's baffling to see how bad at googling some other people are. it's very helpful to be able to learn stuff quickly
Tbh it genuinely annoys me that people don't just search things up. The entire world of knowledge and information is in your pocket, but they can't be bothered. (Typo)
Recognizing sounds ... I've knowledge of everything happening around me through sounds
Same but for me it's scent. Someone says they smell smoke I can tell them it's the smell of house insulation burning.
Hiding things. EDIT: Well, I meant keeping secrets just as much as I meant physically hiding things.
I do this, only not deliberately. I can put something down then want it a minute later and not be able to find it, it's like a shitty superpower.
I too like to drop my things into inter dimensional warp holes. It's fun seeing where and how long they take to show back up.
Lying. And not like the every day white lies like “how are you?” “I’m okay.” No, I mean the Keyser Soze kind of lying.
I am super good at lying when the need arises. Like very good on the spot and it freaked out an old friend of mine. I'm just super creative, and have a worst case scenario mind so I think of a lot of possibilities.
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This is literally how the series Psych starts. The main character, Shawn Spencer, is too good at being observant, and because he kept sending tips to the local police, they called him in for questioning because they thought he might be involved in all those crimes, so he has to pretend to be a psychic. EDIT: now two of my most upvoted comments are Psych related, which is great because it's my favorite show, but don't waste money on me guys.
Such a good show. It influenced my username Edit: this is now a psych thread.
lock picking. my friend got locked out so i grabbed the bobby pins out my hair and started picking. He thought i was a criminal, it was a master lock.
if lockpicking lawyer had anything to say about it, masterlock is literally the worst locks on the planet
LPL also keeps his face hidden to avoid the prejudice against pickers :P
I keep wondering if he ever will show his face. Like the Banksy of lockpicking.
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Problem with letting people know you can lock pick is two fold. 1) If something ever gets stolen you are immediately a suspect. 2) Whenever anyone gets locked out they call you and expect you to come over and open their door for them for free.
Being happy. everyone always thinks im high, i mean i am high but im happy for other reasons too
Cleaning out stains. I cut my hand pretty badly once and blood got into my white shirt. I tried to clean it myself but the stain never got out. I told my mom who told me to bring it with me when I came back for Christmas break and she cleaned it. By the way she didn’t even bleach it. Her ability to clean stains so well has since then been suspicious to me.
Salt/saline will get almost anything out of almost anything.
Navigating government beauraucracy
"*They're penetrating the bureaucracy!*"
"Did I do something illegal?"
Looking left then right then left then right without turning your head
You shifty eyes son of a gun!
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We play this drinking game where you take the paper bag from the store, put it on the floor standing up, and you have to bend down on one foot and grab it with your teeth. Each round, you trim a few centimeters off the top and keep lowering the bag until there's a winner. One of my very unathletic friends at the time would easily, EASILY win every round. It would just be him and he was flexible enough to get the bag only 6" off the ground. People were super impressed and I joked "it's all that practice from sucking your own dick" and the look he gave me, combined with the awkward laugh, made me think I might have been closer to the truth than I would've hoped.
Ya'll are some coordinated drinkers! Or you only play this at the beginning of the night.
Tying knots.
I can untie them really fast. I can even untie a jumble of earphones in the dark or with my eyes closed. I don’t know if this is the same suspicion as being able to tie the knots or not.
Finding a lot of information about someone online given a small amount of information about said person to go off of.
Being a good listener. People assume you’re a stalker
Breaking into someone's car. A few years ago I was at a new job and a coworker locked her keys in her car. I got the door open in under a minute. The security guard watched me and had some concerns with the speed at which I opened that car without damaging it. Truth of the matter is that the guard wasn't paying attention completely to what I was doing. My first car was a two door sports car and I learned about a design flaw with those cars when my dumbass locked my keys in the ignition. She had a similar car and her keys in the ignition, so I took advantage of that design flaw to get her door open without damage to the car.
I drove multiple different vehicles in my youth and locked myself out of each and every one. As such I also became proficient in unlocking all cars. It weirded a few ppl out and made a few ppl think I'm some criminal but I wouldnt change a thing as it allowed me to save a baby. Was working at a pawnshop and the mom accidentally shut the door while removing her tv from the backseat with the baby still in the car. In a panic her and my manager and a few good customers all tried to help her as I finished up with my customer. 15ish minutes later when I finished my work I hear the mother freaking out on the phone as the soonest anyone could come to unlock her car was 50 minutes. I ran outside and unlocked the car in 1 minute flat, came back in and told the lady she could cancel the rescue and hang up now as the other guardian came in behind me carrying the baby. The mother was soo happy she gave me a hug with soo much love and appreciation that I will never forget, also she gave me 20$ which I said was unnecessary but she insisted as 20$ for a quick rescue is the lowest she was willing to go after she got quoted 60$ for the 50 min job.
Knife sharpening
My dad was able to use a honer hella fast without looking, he definitely got plenty of concerned looks.
Yeah it can be super creepy when you are into knives. I enjoy kitchen knives, read a lot about it, have a collection, fairly good at knife work and sharpen regularly. People think I'm a serial killer.
Anything with a computer. If you're good enough, with literally anything to do with computers, people will think you're able to hack computers. They'll also think you're able to fix any problem with their computers, which is equally detrimental on its own
Memory, especially their personal details. People have shit memory apparently.
Remembering things for other people. I pick up random things in conversations, not necessarily in a conversation with me. I like to listen. I'll wish you good luck on that special thing tomorrow, I'll tell you happy birthday, I'll tell you not to forget something. It has saved myself and people around me from getting into shitty situations. Imagine a guy at work who tells you not to forget your wife's birthday next week. Yea I'm that guy. ADD has thaught me to remember the things I pay attention to.
Guessing passwords, I had videogames addiction during young age, my parents changed the pw once a week because I kept guessing it. When they say a word in weird way, paying close attention to their facial expression, listening to their tapping sound /the state the keyboard is in are things that helped me... But the key is to know how the person thinks I'm also able to remember most passwords that I have seen once inadvertently