Stood there holding a wet rag for 5 minutes before I realized I was wiping down the same spot on the counter over and over

I work the closing shift at a diner outside Dayton, and I always thought I was being thorough by wiping everything down twice. Then my manager walked by and pointed out I was just pushing crumbs into a circle for a solid 3 minutes. When did you last catch yourself doing something pointless at work just because you were in a routine?

2 comments

2 Comments

noahpark15d ago

I mean, I used to think that being in a groove at work was a good thing, like you were just super focused or whatever. But the part about pushing crumbs into a circle really hit me because I've done that exact thing more times than I'd like to admit. It's weird how your brain just checks out and your hands keep moving, even if you're not actually doing anything useful. I guess I never really saw it as a problem until now, I just figured I was being efficient or something. Makes me wonder how many other things I'm doing on autopilot that aren't helping at all.

oscarscott15d ago

Wait, you've seriously done the crumb circle thing too? I thought I was the only one who ended up doing that weird stuff when my brain just nopes out. Honestly that kind of freaks me out that it's like a common autopilot thing.