Spreadsheets:
I have an extremely high tolerance to mundane, repetitive tasks because of my vivid imagination. I can just keep doing the same mindless bullshit all day while I’m somewhere else in my head.
Poker face.
No matter what I am thinking internally, it does not show externally. Essential skill for customer service.
I do not have a good poker face, I think more customers need to get laughed at.
It would be good for some of them.
Oh, some of them need laughed or yelled at, for certain.
I, however, need continued employment.
I wouldn’t call it a skill but I’m really mechanically decent (3D puzzles and Rube Goldberg aptitude, that kind of thing), and my visual memory is really good, so I have the uncanny ability to tear apart household appliances, do something else for hours or days, then return and slap it all back together about as quickly with no leftover mystery screws. I just look at the shit all strewn about, and can somehow recall the very last thing I was holding and work backwords
How many parts are we talking about? Something like a washing machine has only few ways to go back together, even if you take it all the way apart, which is a massive bonus with these highly engineered things like home appliances. Things that need to go back together in the same relative orientation etc. like engines are a different story.
I think the half of the dash and the entire center console on a G37 was about the trickiest thing. Center console lid has a little gear-driven mechanism and you need to flip the entire console upside down to fix, but I needed to stop everything and go to the dealership for a little plastic cog.
But we’re in the middle of moving into a new place and our dishwasher was leaking so I pulled the entire ‘tub’ yesterday and inside front panel off to see if fitment was an issue, mostly wasting time while a couch was scheduled to be delivered, so I stopped the dishwasher project to assemble the couch (power reclining thing), then had to put the entire thing back together afterword (one of those Maytag ‘chopper’ models with a built in food disposal thing). But to pull the tub I had to remove the heater blower and chop chop thing and the control board and the water jets and all that… And then I realized a new dishwasher is like 500 bucks lol
Hahaha oh boy are you living the life! Where would you rather be!
It’s kind of fun like 3D jigsaw puzzles but I’d honestly rather not be fixing things so much. We got this new place, inspection turned out fine, but turns out previous owner didn’t find a single stud and used 1" screws on everything in the drywall. Had to redo all the closet shelves, hang closet doors, you name it lol
Not who you responded to, but I did this to an engine after tearing it apart 3 years before.
It’s a weird skill, just being mechanically inclined and a bit ADHD to know how shit just works and goes together.
Amazing skill to have!
A strong sense of spatial awareness, accurately eyeballing measurements, and reverse engineering things in my head without physically taking them apart.
It comes in really handy as a welder, machinist, and a 3D print hobbyist.
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I have long legs and a long torso. It makes holding snacks out of the reach of my partner way easier.
I have a certain “go with the flow”-ness that helps me glide through.
I know how to enunciate, speak with a voice supported by my diaphragm, and increase the intensity of my speaking voice without actually yelling. It’s incredibly useful. Virtually no one ever misunderstands me on the phone. I can have a conversation in a loud crowded place. I’m actually fairly conflict-averse, but when I need to “switch on,” I can usually short-circuit people’s inclination to argue by using a more focused voice.
Everyone should take a decent Acting 101 class where they teach you these skills.
increase the intensity of my speaking voice without actually yelling
People will still consider it yelling even when you’re not actually doing it.
I just imagine if everyone was able to do this 😅
I’ve got a weird version of "net lazy"motivation. Anything I can do now to make a future task easier, I am strongly motivated to do. Anything that would be easier if I wait for [blank] I will ignore until the ideal moment that would make it the easiest.
It oftentimes leads to peculiar optimizations, but it has worked surprisingly well for me so far.
This is exactly what spurs me to wash my dishes right after using them. It’s much less stressful to clean a single plate & fork now, than to return to a sink full of dirty dishes later. I’d rather just get it over with while it’s still easy to do.
Yep, exactly this. Wash the plates and silverware now before stuff gets dried on there… Except that casserole dish with the crispy baked on border of crust. That is soaking for a couple hours to save me a little effort. I’ll was every dish but two just because it’ll be easier later.
ability to troubleshoot logically. if something isn’t working, I have a knack of figuring out why, but maybe have to lookup how to fix it.
I can read, and also write. If needed, I will also speak.
When I was a kid I did gymnastics, and skateboarded/rollerbladed. This combination of activities meant I was falling on my ass all the god damn time.
It also means that I am so accustomed to falling, that even as I age, those instincts survive, and in turn, help me survive. When I fall, I tuck, I roll, I break my fall with any number of instinctual responses. This has lead to me surviving some scary falls I’ve taken whilst home alone (off a ladder, in the shower, fainting once when I got up from a long squat), and I think will help me survive more in my elder years.
Same here. It took me a while to realize not everyone rode bike or skated then ate shit as kids so now they eat shit.
That’s great now, also have you considered working to improve your balance so you stop falling doing normal everyday tasks?
You might be so accustomed to falling your entire life, maybe it hasn’t occurred to you that falling off ladders and falling in the shower and getting dizzy from squatting to the point you fall over when you get up, those are not normal or healthy events. Quite the opposite of normal & healthy.
Regular expressions
I really wish I’d spent a day learning regex 2 decades ago or so.
End up finding more complicated ways around everything because I never learned it properly.
If I pay attention to a written piece of information (name, phone number, address, short instructions, that kind of stuff) I will remember it for months and years. Comes in handy when working with complex policies and legislation!
This is balanced by the fact that I have trouble retaining auditory information. If you tell me your name, I’ve forgotten it before you’ve even finished talking. (But if I catch it on your badge out of the corner of my eye, I’ll remember it for years.) The only exception are dog names - those I have no trouble remembering.
Ability to calm down and read instructions or manuals. I don’t understand people’s insistence on figuring EVERYTHING out.
Don’t get me wrong I love solving problems, but sometimes the solution to the problem is just finding the answer- literally right there. RTFM.
