Last week I went to my boyfriend’s place and I used his laptop to do some errands. It was hard.
The keyboard didn’t blend with my fingers like mine does. Everything was at the wrong place. The folders and files were not sorted by kind. I can’t find documents. Like, our categorisation system is different, so is our ways of storing things. It took ages for me to locate the internet browser, and I’m not sure if he was using Chrome (I do). I think it was Safari – that’s why it took so long. And I surely tried to impose him my ways of doing things (to his dismay, of course) because I am sure that my way is much neater and simpler.
But of course, he thinks that way too.
Another time I was trying to re-arrange the books on our (my sister and I) bookshelf. I ended up taking out all the books and putting them on the floor and arrange them based on the big categories: non-fiction, fiction, religious, F&B and so on. I used the ascending author’s last name system too. My sister came home and tried to find a book on the shelf. She couldn’t find it. Previously, she arranged her books based on even more detailed categories, i.e. dating, romance, medical and so on.
She relented though, and adopted mine.
Yes, I like to organise and arrange things. I have practically organised my wardrobe for three times in the last three months. That’s two times more than required.
It’s interesting, isn’t it?
Deep down, we know that everyone is different. Everyone has their own ways of thinking, and yet somehow we always think that ours is the best. We always think that because we have adopted one way on doing something, everyone else ought to follow it too.
Or worse, we thought everyone else is doing the exact same thing.
I can’t understand why my sister’s fiance always takes a detour to the left when going to my place from the Melbourne CBD. Apparently, he hates one intersection nearby the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and he prefers to go left and do a semi-circle drive instead of just going straight. That’s just him.
My sister can’t understand why I always gargle drinking water after brushing my teeth. If I don’t do this, I feel like I’m swallowing tap water (which is perfectly drinkable in Australia, but not back at my home country).
Actually, it’s kind of fascinating. But sometimes it just takes a little bit of mental effort to remember that not everyone does things the way you do.
Photo by Corey Templeton, Creative Commons
