Regular expressions
I really wish I’d spent a day learning regex 2 decades ago or so.
End up finding more complicated ways around everything because I never learned it properly.
Spreadsheets:
Poker face.
No matter what I am thinking internally, it does not show externally. Essential skill for customer service.
I do not have a good poker face, I think more customers need to get laughed at.
It would be good for some of them.
Oh, some of them need laughed or yelled at, for certain.
I, however, need continued employment.
I wouldn’t call it a skill but I’m really mechanically decent (3D puzzles and Rube Goldberg aptitude, that kind of thing), and my visual memory is really good, so I have the uncanny ability to tear apart household appliances, do something else for hours or days, then return and slap it all back together about as quickly with no leftover mystery screws. I just look at the shit all strewn about, and can somehow recall the very last thing I was holding and work backwords
How many parts are we talking about? Something like a washing machine has only few ways to go back together, even if you take it all the way apart, which is a massive bonus with these highly engineered things like home appliances. Things that need to go back together in the same relative orientation etc. like engines are a different story.
Not who you responded to, but I did this to an engine after tearing it apart 3 years before.
It’s a weird skill, just being mechanically inclined and a bit ADHD to know how shit just works and goes together.
Amazing skill to have!
I think the half of the dash and the entire center console on a G37 was about the trickiest thing. Center console lid has a little gear-driven mechanism and you need to flip the entire console upside down to fix, but I needed to stop everything and go to the dealership for a little plastic cog.
But we’re in the middle of moving into a new place and our dishwasher was leaking so I pulled the entire ‘tub’ yesterday and inside front panel off to see if fitment was an issue, mostly wasting time while a couch was scheduled to be delivered, so I stopped the dishwasher project to assemble the couch (power reclining thing), then had to put the entire thing back together afterword (one of those Maytag ‘chopper’ models with a built in food disposal thing). But to pull the tub I had to remove the heater blower and chop chop thing and the control board and the water jets and all that… And then I realized a new dishwasher is like 500 bucks lol
Hahaha oh boy are you living the life! Where would you rather be!
It’s kind of fun like 3D jigsaw puzzles but I’d honestly rather not be fixing things so much. We got this new place, inspection turned out fine, but turns out previous owner didn’t find a single stud and used 1" screws on everything in the drywall. Had to redo all the closet shelves, hang closet doors, you name it lol
This is a boring ass answer but probably literary analysis
I have a certain “go with the flow”-ness that helps me glide through.
ability to troubleshoot logically. if something isn’t working, I have a knack of figuring out why, but maybe have to lookup how to fix it.
Kind of like the other poster, I can figure out how most simple mechanical things work by looking at them and can usually cobble together a solution to mechanical problems out of random stuff from the hardware store. I’m also really good at fixing simple mechanical and electrical things like bicycles, flashlights, hair dryers, fans, office chairs, etc. I’m also quite handy with a sewing machine and can fix most clothes.
More complicated things like appliances, software, etc I can’t do as quickly or easily but I’m still pretty good at hacking together solutions with the help of YouTube and online forums.
Has probably saved me thousands of dollars over my lifetime in keeping things running and not having to buy replacements, but also I lose a lot of time and space to all my “I can fix this” projects.
I’ve got a weird version of "net lazy"motivation. Anything I can do now to make a future task easier, I am strongly motivated to do. Anything that would be easier if I wait for [blank] I will ignore until the ideal moment that would make it the easiest.
It oftentimes leads to peculiar optimizations, but it has worked surprisingly well for me so far.
This is exactly what spurs me to wash my dishes right after using them. It’s much less stressful to clean a single plate & fork now, than to return to a sink full of dirty dishes later. I’d rather just get it over with while it’s still easy to do.
Yep, exactly this. Wash the plates and silverware now before stuff gets dried on there… Except that casserole dish with the crispy baked on border of crust. That is soaking for a couple hours to save me a little effort. I’ll was every dish but two just because it’ll be easier later.
I regularly catch stuff that accidentally drops nearby me with my hands or I manganese to soften the hit in the ground by changing it’s trajectory with my feet.
That comes in handy as i am clumsy as hell.
manganese, sodium, chloride, magnesium, potassium
Until it’s an iron pan…
I once hurt myself bc i tried to catch two bowls falling of the shelf. In the end I had a blue toe and a nasty wound on my wrist.
I forgot to mention I do not catch everything, preferably I avoid catching knives. And iron pans. Hammers also not. For some reason, my brain did a pretty solid job not to catch such items.
Multitasking really simple tasks. I can do three errands around the house at the same time, and I’m really good at bartending multiple drinks simultaneously. I love cooking because I’m really efficient and time multiple dishes perfectly.
Knowing four fluent languages and four that I’m not fluent in.
I know how to enunciate, speak with a voice supported by my diaphragm, and increase the intensity of my speaking voice without actually yelling. It’s incredibly useful. Virtually no one ever misunderstands me on the phone. I can have a conversation in a loud crowded place. I’m actually fairly conflict-averse, but when I need to “switch on,” I can usually short-circuit people’s inclination to argue by using a more focused voice.
Everyone should take a decent Acting 101 class where they teach you these skills.
I just imagine if everyone was able to do this 😅
increase the intensity of my speaking voice without actually yelling
People will still consider it yelling even when you’re not actually doing it.
I’ve been told I’m very good at reading people.
When I was a kid I did gymnastics, and skateboarded/rollerbladed. This combination of activities meant I was falling on my ass all the god damn time.
It also means that I am so accustomed to falling, that even as I age, those instincts survive, and in turn, help me survive. When I fall, I tuck, I roll, I break my fall with any number of instinctual responses. This has lead to me surviving some scary falls I’ve taken whilst home alone (off a ladder, in the shower, fainting once when I got up from a long squat), and I think will help me survive more in my elder years.
Same here. It took me a while to realize not everyone rode bike or skated then ate shit as kids so now they eat shit.
