One of my first bosses, a wonderful woman who managed a gas station I worked at in high school, gave me very firm and explicit directions: All the presidents must face the same way.
Yes, she demanded all the bills face the exact same way in the cash register drawer. Having them all lined up identically in each compartment made them easier to count and less likely to be mistaken for larger bills, she said. This helped to ensure the cash drawer was balanced after each shift… and to ensure I still had a job.
Her instructions stuck with me. To this day, the cash in my billfold all have the presidents facing the same way. Habits may be tough to form, but they are also difficult to break.
I am also a fanatic about my keys and where they are. If you are a regular reader of this column, you know they are on a carabiner attached to my beltloop most of the time. Few things drive me as crazy as losing my keys. As such, I have a specific process of where I put them when they are not by my side. And, as such, I have great anxiety when someone borrows my keys.
In today’s high-tech world, recharging has become a daily process. Phones. Watches. Tablets. Laptops. And plenty of other things that start with a lower case “i.” They all need plugged in and recharged. At home. In the car. At the office. Each has its own cord, and many are not interchangeable. I like to have my own cords for my own electronics. My wife and one of our daughters also like to have my cords for their electronics. Yes, they have their own — somewhere. But my cords are apparently easier to find, or they just like to see me get worked up. Probably both.
I have bought them new cords with the properly aligned cash in my billfold, but they still seem to disappear. “You need to learn to share,” my wife tells me. She is right, but that doesn’t seem to play well with my personal processes.
And she clearly doesn’t have all her presidents lined up.
Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707