Wednesday, February 5, 2014

An undiscovered phobia?


I have worked in the same high rise building for almost 24 years.  My company has been on different floors during that time but we are currently occupying the entire 24th floor.  When the elevator is approaching our floor, I need to get my keys out because the office is locked when I arrive (God knows why I have to come in at the crack of dawn for heaven's sake!).
 
I have discovered recently that I may suffer from a new phobia.  It seems that I have become terrified that I will drop my keys down the elevator shaft.
 
I hold them in my right hand with a finger inside one of the metal rings. 
 
Where's the diamond?

Not good enough!  I also grip one of my decorative key rings in the palm of my hand.  Hard enough that it leaves a red mark for quite a while. 
  
This is my office key ring. I'm surprised it hasn't melted in my hot little hand.

Still. Not. Good. Enough.  I then hold my right hand up against my body so that if I DO drop the keys, they will hopefully slide down my leg and hit the floor versus falling down the shaft.  Occasionally, if I'm feeling especially frightened, I will go so far as to hold my left hand under my right hand as an extra safety measure.
 
A bit over the top?  Well, I’m just protecting myself from some sort of key trauma.  Yes, that’s it.
 
 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha Ha! I bet if we think about it, we all have some strange OCD habits!

Liz said...

And I'm sure I have way more than this one Teri!! HA!

Jess said...

I lost my cell phone a few years ago. I finally found it; crushed under the tracks of a large construction machine...I was devastated. All contact with the universe was lost; I was caught in the magnetic maelstrom of lost electromagnetic communications.

Since then, I've developed a strange way of tapping my waist, to insure my cell phone is in its case. That, and phantom cell phone vibration syndrome.

I guess it's a normal reaction....right?