M&Ms (OCD)

I am not sure how long I've done this, though I know it has been for at least some five years because that is when it was pointed out to me.

I was sitting at IHOP rolling silverware with some coworkers. Ben - the infamous Ben - was making fun of me because he thought I was OCD. He didn't have a lot to go on. So, I liked the place mats to be perfectly straight when I laid them on the tables. I had a pretty particular way of garnishing the food dishes, and how to drizzle chocolate on the dessert plates. (I just wanted those to look good! There's a right way to do the whip cream too...) These aren't obsessive or compulsive, they're just taking pride in my work. But he tested other things, I was known for doodling on the back of the place mats while waiting for Ben and April to get off work so we could go to Mimi's for breakfast. I would draw a box or something, Ben would add a line that messed it up, I would fix it. He would shade something in, but not all the way. I would fix it. I still didn't think this was indication of OCD.

But we were sitting there, eating M&Ms that someone had brought in and I very carefully separated my M&Ms in pairs by color. I'd pull out the singles and eat them promptly. Then, if there were more than one pair of each, I would carefully eat the surplus. And then line them up by color in the rainbow, or however I like the color combination best. Sometimes that meant switching things around and then I could eat them.

I still do that. Now I am more aware of it. But even when there isn't a table to line things up on, I line them up on my hand. And then I eat them. Two by two. If I don't do it, it irritates me. I don't find them as appealing, or they taste funny. If there are absolutely no two colors the same, I would rather get a different handful.