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Ah, yes. The old upside-down-tomato-sauce-can-next-to-the-door-to-remember-my-umbrella trick. That's always been a classic. The first couple of times I tried
by ianamartin 10y ago
Ah, yes. The old upside-down-tomato-sauce-can-next-to-the-door-to-remember-my-umbrella trick.
That's always been a classic.
The first couple of times I tried it, it didn't work very well. I was trying to leave in the morning, and I tripped over the can, and I was all, "Who the fuck put a can of tomatoes in front of the door?" And I kicked it out of the way and left without my umbrella.
Then I realized I wasn't going deep enough. You have to open the can of tomatoes and put the open top on the floor. You have to do it fast or it spills.
The next morning, I tripped over the can and knocked it over. And now there was slippery tomatoes all over my floor in front of my door. So of course I slipped in it and fell down, hurting my elbow and head more than I wanted to at that time of the morning.
So at this point, I decided that I could just work from home. After I cleaned up the upside down tomatoes.
The moral of the story is that, no, I didn't remember the umbrella at all. But! I no longer needed it.
- memset 10y agoI am reminded of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSRaDHXydzU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSRaDHXydzU
- pje 10y agolol
- 7952 10y agoWhy not just put the actual umbrella against the door.
- jakub_g 10y agoThe umbrella is just one of potential examples of $thing_to_do. But for me putting umbrella next to the door didn't really work. I'd have to put it on the floor for it to work, and I don't like putting things on the floor - though it's another highly effective solution :)
- kbenson 10y agoBecause it's wet and gets the floor wet, obviously. But why not wait until before going to bed, and then put it by the door since it's probably dry by that point? Because I forget to do that. Why not do something so you can remember to put it out at night? Well, I tried this trick I heard about a can of tomatoes...
- derefr 10y agoHow about "doing something" like "Siri, remind me at 9PM to put out my umbrella"?
- Moru 10y agoYou could move to some area that has little rain during the day in the summer and the rest of the year it's snowing or so cold you will directly notice (and regret) if you forget the hat/gloves/coverpants?
- lobster_johnson 10y agoInstead of something elaborate that's taking the place of the thing you want to remember, how about writing a sticky note with "remember the umbrella" on it?
- mwill 10y agoYeah ops method seems strangely elaborate. I do something similar but require far less to actually jolt my memory. Usually I just put a shoe upside down on my table, takes a couple of seconds and in the morning I think "Why did I do that? Oh yeah, thats right", has never failed me yet.
- Theodores 10y agoOr just use built in memory. If something is worth remembering then remember it, simple. I do not consider diaries that vital or to-do lists as being anything more than long term storage. It is not the same as knowing what you should be doing that day. For that built in memory does nicely as does having details at hand on a phone. Regarding the umbrella, if I forgot it then I would be pleased with my brain for filtering that useless requirement out.
- atombender 10y agoIn a thread about remembering little things, you're actually advocating that forgetting them is good? I used an umbrella on my way to work last week. I forgot to bring it home. I was sad because it was raining the next day, too. I was not pleased with my brain for filtering out that arguably useful requirement.
- ianamartin 10y agoWow. This is by far my most highly rated post on hacker news. I want to clarify that this is utter bullshit, and that I don't actually do this. Well, most of this. I have easier ways of working from home. Like, I put an event on my boss's calendar that says I'm working from home. And I hate umbrellas. I fucking hate them. If you live in New York City and you use an umbrella, I want you to go home and die right now. You have no idea of the space that you are taking up with those things. You have no respect for your fellow humans. I hate you. And I don't want to live in this world with you. Get a little wet. Don't stab me in the eyeball with your stupid, incompetent umbrella that you aren't paying attention to. I have a little note next to my door that says: don't take the umbrella--It's a jackass thing to do. Guess what happens. I never take the umbrella. The tomatoes thing was a joke, for those of you who missed it.
- IIAOPSW 10y agoWow. An umbrella fundamentalist. Is there a law of the internet that for every trivial thing you can find someone with absurdly strong opinions leaving comments about it?
- Groxx 10y ago>Is there a law of the internet that for every trivial thing you can find someone with absurdly strong opinions leaving comments about it? There has to be, it's one of the few constants of the internet. That said: you merely have to experience umbrellas in a high-density environment a couple times before those opinions are the only rational response. Umbrellas are hostile to everyone within reach. (corollary: whenever that number remains at zero, they're perfectly fine)
- PSeitz 10y agoBut it does work in Tokyo, maybe it's the people
- ianamartin 10y agoI'm specifically talking about NYC. It's definitely the people.