A senior colleague from another department in upper level administration whom I know casually but not well -- we've probably spent a total of 4-5 hours together in the space of six months -- pegged me today.
After being very complimentary about all manner of things -- everything from my research, my skills, and my communication style to my so-called appeal generally and what I have to offer (um, he's almost 20 years old than I, and I don't think he was flirting, but he may have been ... and probably the fact that I think he may have been means that he was, as I rarely assume a man is flirting with me), he commented on my organization.
"Yes, I'm organized," I replied, ruefully. "I'm a little OCD."
To which he responded, instantly, "You certainly are."
I didn't think it was that obvious -- but it turns out he's a former clinical psychologist who practiced for 15 years, and so he has a good eye. "So how can you tell?" I asked. "I mean, I no longer do things like count the number of threads in every tassle on a rug, for instance." And it's not as if this man really knows me ...
"No, it probably works for you at this point in your life. But now that you've said you're OCD, there are dead giveaways, even in how you talk. You're very orderly, even in your speech. You categorize and compartmentalize. But you also juggle multiple strands in a single conversation and go back and forth among them with no difficulty. I have no problem keeping up with that, but I bet some people have a hard time with it. And when you start getting excited, you talk more and more quickly, almost as if you're visiting New York ..."
Huh? That last bit seemed like a non sequitur -- and okay, now that I read this over, the guy was definitely flirting a little -- but the rest of it I found spot-on.
It's one thing to know I'm OCD and to choose to self-disclose. It feels distinctly unnerving to have someone whom I don't know well not miss a beat in affirming it to me and then listing off characteristics of my very speech that are giveaways.
Humph. No one likes the feeling of being pigeon-holed! As with most folks, probably, I like to think I'm unique, as opposed to typical of X or Y.
Yeah, well, whatever. Welcome to reality!
