I have that weird and common symmetry thing
where if I touch something with one hand, I must touch it with the other and I have to touch it the same amount of times. Also, it seems I have it when it comes to tattoos and piercings. Any piercings I have are central (tongue and lip) or on my left side (nose, nipple) and my tattoo is on my left side too. I explain to people that it balances me out because I'm right handed. They usually just give me a weird look and go 'erm yeah okay then'.
( Blue Star was working part time at the 5 and Dime, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:18, 5 replies)

I have CDO...
it's similar to OCD, but I have to put the letters in alphabetical order
(greatoldone Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl f'tagn, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:17, 3 replies)

My girlfriends brother
refuses to eat odd numbered foodstuffs going to the point that he'll give odd chips or sausages away. Yes, he counts the number of chips he gets.
( Funkenschlag still likes dogs more than cats, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:14, 8 replies)

I got up ten minutes late for work
one day, so dressed somewhat in a rush. managed to arrive just on time, and after half an hour got summoned into my bosses office to be given a verbal warning for "Not wearing clothing of sufficient standard for the company" It turns out that he'd noticed that I wasn't wearing socks that match. as I left he screamed across the office "And you're not wearing a tie" at which point I burst out laughing., getting my second verbal warning on the spot.

Since when for over 20 years I have never worn socks that match on the grounds that if an employer is going to complain then they're obviously even more of an asshole than most bosses and Id might as well know.
(ceebs, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:11, 2 replies)

Walk this way..
I like people to walk on my left hand side. If there is a group of us and so long as one person is on that side, it's ok.

It's my one mental thing.
(waxdart hello., Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:09, 3 replies)

I have to have the volume on anything at an even number, or a multiple of five. My car radio has a dial, and I can't keep track of it - this stresses me out, fiddling with it until it 'sounds' even.

I always, always, have to be standing on the left hand side of someone if we're walking somewhere. Couldn't tell you why - walking on the right just feels wrong.

If I bang my left elbow on a door, I have to bang my right one as well, so that one side doesn't hurt more than the other one.

I think it's all completely normal!
(Twinx, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:09, 3 replies)

Atheists with OCD habits to be "lucky".
Do make me laugh.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:08, 7 replies)

My current OCD obsession is drying the worktop.
We got a new kitchen put in recently. It was a lengthy and soul-destroying job involving extensive building work, a month and a half without a cooker, sink or washing machine, and twice the original budget. Due to necessary cost-cutting we opted for wooden worktops - Ikea oak ones. These need to be oiled with special (i.e. expensive) oil - first with three or four coats to seal them, then every week or two for the first couple of months, then every six months. If you don't oil them then standing water stains the wood, hot things leave marks, and woe betide if you set something cast iron on them - they'll turn black.

I took it upon myself to be chief-stainer. I have lovingly sanded, dusted and rubbed oil into that wood grain on a regular basis over the past two months. The flipside is that every single time I put something on the worktop I immediately have to check that it's not wet, hot or anything else desirable. I can't sleep at night if I haven't made sure every last potentially oak-damaging crumb has been cleaned away.

Advice to all of you seeking kitchen guidance: fork out for granite and sleep unburdened. I am a sad fucker who dreams of the wrong kind of wood.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:05, 17 replies)

Left
My sister has this thing where she always has to be on the left. If she's walking down the street with someone, if she's sat next to someone, if she's on the bus.
No particular reason but if she isn't on the left she tells people they're on the wrong side and have to move. If they refuse or she is on the right side of something she gets frustrated, sometimes aggressive and tries to get over to the left.

I take great joy in pointing out she's on the wrong side.
Either because she hasn't noticed she's on the right or because she really is on the left and I'm just being a twat.
(FootOfTim, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:04, 4 replies)

I can't pee...
Unless I count to 20.
(hadr0n Craic whore, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:03, 3 replies)

A chap I work with...
...was getting ribbed one night when a few of us had gone out for drinks, because whenever he went to the loo at work, he was gone for ages and his colleagues had started to notice.

He sheepishly explained that it was because it took him ages to take all his clothes off and then put them back on again.

Ever since he was a child, he had been unable to 'go' with clothes on. Every time he went to the loo, for either a number two or a number one, he had to take his clothes off and hang them on the peg of the room (naturally, he couldn't use urinals) before he could relieve himself. He would then wash his hands and get redressed.

Of course, this caused great amusement, so we told absolutely everyone, and he is now known to all and sundry around the company as 'that guy who can only poo naked'.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:02, 3 replies)

Onanism
I simply must masturbate whenever I read about someone's OCD.

This is going to be a painful week...
(Lythium deals in lead, my friend., Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:01, Reply)

Things have to be on other things in a perpendicular arrangement.
Ornaments, furniture, confused looking pet bearded dragon, pens. They've got to be at 90- or 180-degrees to the thing they're on.

If it's not a right angle, it's a wrong angle.
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 13:00, 16 replies)

Friend of mine - Who is of sane & able mind
- Will refuse to leave one of any type of vegetable on the plate (peas, sweetcorn bits, green beans etc.) in case it gets "lonely".
- She'll also eat Jelly Babies head first as it's a "quick death".
(rhyswynne - on every social network mullarkey known to man, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:57, 2 replies)

Smoking
Back when I used to smoke, on buying a new fresh pack of 20, I always took one out of the pack, turned it upside down and out it back in. I then kept that one till last.
( RadG Drinking Mojitos in the sun, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:56, 10 replies)

The salt and the pepper must be perfectly aligned.
Fuck you, people who find out about this and deliberately misalign them. Fuck you.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:55, 10 replies)

Mrs Vagabond says pen lids must be on pens - either end, but definitely they must be on the original pen.
This is, in essence, her code for "Please entertain me by distributing pen lids around the flat at random".

I think.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:53, Reply)

I have a huge collection of computer parts.
I seem to have this strange habit of not throwing any computer parts out, even if they are no longer working, for some reason, I always think that I might need them in future, even when the possibility seems remote.

I have loads of floppy disk drives and floppy disks. CD-Rom drives (does anyone still use them?) a box of old processors and a box full of Ram, to name a few.

Perhaps one day I will overcome this geeky tendency, but until then, I will keep collecting.

Does anyone have use for a 100mb hard drive by the way?
( Squiggy Alloria makes theme parks., Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:52, 12 replies)

hanging
I always have to have the toilet paper hanging over the front of the roll as it sits on the holder thing. If it's the wrong way round (as I always seem to find it) I have to throw away a couple of sheets and put it the right way. I guess it's something to do with it touching the wall or something.
( JojoThe3rd They WILL wear lapel pins., Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:52, 12 replies)

Lucky shave
I'm a footie fan. My match day, therefore, is filled with bizarre rituals and habits to ensure the success or otherwise of Arsenal Football Club.

After discarding a previously-lucky-but-now-cursed pair of boxer shorts (it got to the point that I couldn't even look at them in my wardrobe on a match day), I have finally boiled down my pre-football preparation to one carefully-researched habit.

I MUST shave on a match day.

As recent results have proven, there have been a a number of match days where I forgot - or couldn't be bothered - to shave. A number of vital defeats are entirely down to my experimenting with The Shaving Curse.

It's not just Arsenal, either. I currently sport a week's worth of stubble, and England are OUT OF THE WORLD CUP.

Sorry, everybody. Sorry.
( Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:49, 5 replies)

I blow on my hands
When they're hot.
I have to do it in threes though. Left right left, and then right left right.
Never in twos. never.
(Ace McAce Where we're going, we don't need roads, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:46, 1 reply)

not me but a friend
has to have volume on an even number or 5 ..... quiet fun for me to watch him freak out when its not...

he also says shut up everytime he sneezes..
(pancakes_n_ham, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:44, 7 replies)

Bacteria
I went through a phase of never washing my hands after handling uncooked poultry, pork etc in the hope that I would fall ill and not have to go into work. I wasn't very happy at work at that time.
(Happybara The jungle came alive and took him, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:42, Reply)

Friend of mine was reputed to open bottles of milk, leave them to go sour
and then EAT the lumps.

Never caught him at it myself but one day I'll ask him about it.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:40, 1 reply)

OH Yeah - don't bother telling us all about how you started to reply to the previous QOTW and didn't manage it.
Because that, sir/madam, would be a crap joke.
(Rogerthepussy, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:40, 1 reply)

First?
EDIT: Second.

I like to drive home a different way to the way I go to work.
It takes about the same time whichever way I go - but I like the variety.
(Rogerthepussy, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:36, 3 replies)

Wanking footballer!
Over the years I've been party to most OCD behaviours.

Former housemates have had the usual on/off lightswitch behaviour, my nan would always eat a sugarcube to aid thought, my ex used to recite all the various parts of the car she had to turn off in a certain order. All of that pales into insignificance when compared to my friend. He'll have to remain nameless, unfortunately, as he reads this and would kick my head in.

I lived with this bloke for around about 6 months back in 2001. He was a former professional footballer (he played for York City in the late 90s). He was a lovely guy, had a stunning girlfriend, but was trying to find a new career, having been kicked out of football for using drugs. He was working in Marks & Sparks as a stopgap.

When he moved in with us a few quirks rapidly became apparent; he blew up the microwacve after putting something foil-covered in it, and he kept disappearing to his room with mysterious bags. We found, in time, that these bags contained a variety of hardcore porn videos. He used to vanish into his room with them and, clearly, wank.

He had a wanking habit almost beyond belief; when DVDs became popular, we often found him in one of our rooms, blocking himself in. I remember one day when he came downstairs wearing nothing but a towel, informing me that if anyone came round for him I should tell them he was "upstairs cracking one off."

This carried on all the time I lived with him. He was a nice, normal guy at heart, but he just couldn't stop wanking. He even had a deal with the local porno emporium allowing him to return videos and swap them over for new ones at a tiny cost.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:36, Reply)