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Post by KelleeM on Jun 29, 2015 23:07:40 GMT
I was in a meeting at work today with my department and two people from another department...one of the other people was a high level manager in the company. The guy running the meeting was showing us a "dummy" form that he has created that will be used in our day to day work (I'm an inspector and it's a report for material coming in from outside vendors and doesn't meet our requirements). The guy was typing in some random information and then said "does anyone know the vendor number for XYZ vendor?" And I promptly said "1936 maybe?" He didn't know the answer (nor did anyone else in the room and I'm not sure why he didn't just put in a random number instead of wanting the number for this particular vendor). Well, he typed in 1936 and it was the correct number for the vendor he requested. Everyone in the room was shocked and the high level manager said "I don't know whether to be really impressed or terrified." I didn't know what to say to that and just responded with "I've been doing this for a very long time" which is true; I've been at my job for over 27 years. There's just no need for anyone to know a vendor number off the top of their head. When we need to input it it's on the incoming receipt paperwork from which we're entering other information.
By the way, my dh will ask me something and when I answer correctly he always says "how do you know that?" I've taken to responding "I'm a genius" which is totally not true but he pretends that he believes me!
So, anyone else care to admit they're carrying around way too much useless and totally random information?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2015 23:10:02 GMT
Yes and no. I know things that are truly useless (ie - celebrity facts) and things that actually win me points in trivia (ie, I know when Flag Day is whereas many people I know don't). Yet, there are times where I just cannot remember something that I know I should know.
My sister and DS1 are also sources for useless information.
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Post by KelleeM on Jun 29, 2015 23:15:37 GMT
Yes and no. I know things that are truly useless (ie - celebrity facts) and things that actually win me points in trivia (ie, I know when Flag Day is whereas many people I know don't). Yet, there are times where I just cannot remember something that I know I should know. My sister and DS1 are also sources for useless information. Oh...I do pretty well at trivia except with current music and movies/tv! And I know when Flag Day is too!! |
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Post by ljs1691 on Jun 29, 2015 23:24:09 GMT
Before saying home with my kiddos I could tell you project numbers for most of the jobs (civil and architectural firm) including phone numbers for top clients. Before that I worked at an investment firm and knew more stock symbols than I care to admit along with most of our client account numbers. I think some people just have a bigger filing system for stuff like that in our heads. 20 years ago I worked at Service Merchandise in the jewelry department and those item numbers still haunt me.
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Deleted
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May 18, 2024 18:55:14 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2015 23:26:50 GMT
695-8928 was my phone number in Montreal...I have lived on this side of the word since I was 8 apart from Japan for 10 years...We all need to know phone nos. from when we were kids, right?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2015 23:29:41 GMT
I am multi billionaire in my own little jeopardy world. There are days that I can out Jennings, ken Jennings.
I can spout out answers to a gazillion things, sometimes just catching a bit of on the news , But I can't do complex math to save my life.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2015 23:30:14 GMT
Oh, wanna hear something sad? I worked as a stocker at Menards (home improvement store that is mostly in the great lakes region) for a little over a year. It's been nearly 2 years since I've left that job and I still remember where things are (or were as they move things a lot) AND I can tell you if Menards stock something or not. Every now and then, DH will want something for a project and I'll say, "know what, I know Menard's carries that because I stocked it once!"  |
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brandy327
Drama Llama
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Post by brandy327 on Jun 29, 2015 23:34:57 GMT
Um, not I. I can barely remember my own damned name.  But my dh, on the other hand, remembers practically every single bit of useless information you can imagine. It's a little scary, honestly. He rarely forgets anything and his mind is a trap. I'd LOVE to know what his IQ is. He not only has a great memory but he's extremely smart, logical and has common sense...not a combo you see a lot of (at least around here LOL). |
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Post by PolarGreen12 on Jun 29, 2015 23:37:56 GMT
I always have tons of random useless info in my head. Phone numbers from friends in grade school, actors and movie details, that the table fork was invented during the Byzantine Empire, etc.
At my previous job I could rattle off dozens of our customers addresses, phone numbers, etc. The owner of 18 years couldn't name one. If I hear something once I usually remember it.
Apparently I didnt develop this gift till after high school pr I would have done better in algebra.
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Post by yivit on Jun 30, 2015 0:01:30 GMT
I kept our team in the running last week at a trivia contest at the bar where we went after work for some "team building" because of the seemingly endless amount of what I call "brain sludge" in my head.  I was on the College Bowl team in college, too, so it's not JUST useless trivia that's stuck up there (although there are way too many lyrics to TV show themes). At work, my minions will call out an IP address from something they're analyzing and 9 times out of 10, I can tell them what provider or country it belongs to without looking it up (and if it's one of ours, I can usually tell them which building it's in or which other location it's at if it's not local to us). That's from years of dealing with them (and from dealing with most of the major ISPs in a previous job as well). The flip side is that I always say we don't just wear badges at work for security reasons - it's so we can remember our own names. |
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Post by padresfan619 on Jun 30, 2015 0:03:26 GMT
I'm a walking, talking version of IMDB. I can watch a movie or tv show and tell you what other stuff the actor has been in. Especially if it is someone from an episode of Law & Order: SVU or Friends. Just about every actor who is in the business has been in either one of those shows.
When I was a kid I could tell you what happened in every episode of The Simpsons in the first minute of the episode. It has been years since I've watched any new episodes, but if I catch an old one on syndication I can still rattle off the synopsis. Clearly I have always watched too much tv.
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Post by LauraTen on Jun 30, 2015 0:03:31 GMT
Too many song lyrics!!!
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happymomma
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by happymomma on Jun 30, 2015 0:08:31 GMT
I always joke that I am the queen of useless trivia. Especially regarding 70's & 80's music. My brother is my match. We call each other from Michigan to Florida to ask each other about a song. The conversation usually goes like this, "Ok, I can't remember any words but part of it goes da da, da da da da, da da. It was around the same time Heat of the Moment by Asia was out. I think the band *might* have started with an 'S.'"
We usually figure it out together in a few minutes. We are weird.
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PLurker
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Post by PLurker on Jun 30, 2015 0:10:21 GMT
Useless, yes. I worked at a resort in the late 70s early 80's with 365 rooms and can still remember all of them, where they were, what floor, facing park or golf course/water and what the decor inside looked like-number sizes of beds etc (then- changed hands a couple times since back in the day). Zipcodes from all over from working at the post office for too many years. My scrapbook friends called me "the zipcode savant". I am starting to lose some of that info not working there anymore, and am ok with that.
A bunch of stuff I had no intention of remembering is stuck in my noggin.
Now, if I could just stop confusing the kids' and dog's names....
ETA My DS seems to have an eidetic memory of movies and shows etc he likes. He can pretty much say most of the lines verbatim as it plays. Kind of scary. I asked him why he even bothers rewatching movies when he could just play them back in his head. He said so he can multitask- watch the movie and do something else at the same time. Dork.
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happymomma
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Post by happymomma on Jun 30, 2015 0:10:51 GMT
695-8928 was my phone number in Montreal...I have lived on this side of the word since I was 8 apart from Japan for 10 years...We all need to know phone nos. from when we were kids, right? 882-4249. Lansing. Second grade. 1973-ish. And my friend Mary Ann's from Kindergarten. 354-4249. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2015 0:19:26 GMT
I can still rattle off my parents' number, my childhood best friend's number, my former best friend's number, and can probably tell you a few other phone numbers that have since been disconnected but don't ask me what my ex's number is. This is actually the longest he has had the same number but I still don't remember it.
I can rattle off all kinds of numbers and birthdays. Some are necessary to know; most are not. Ex kept asking me for birthdays for years after we divorced, even with his own family.
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Post by Daikon on Jun 30, 2015 0:41:06 GMT
I worked in a grocery store 13 years ago, I can still rattle off PLUs to some of the produce and the UPCs for some cat litters too. I keep random things in my head and my family and my friends often call me to pick my brain. I wish I had more room for more useful things, like where I put my car keys every morning.
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Post by Sparki on Jun 30, 2015 0:47:50 GMT
My phone number from when I was a child - 5791. We didn't have seven digit or more phone numbers yet. We still had a party line. And I'm a Gen-Xer! |
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perumbula
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Post by perumbula on Jun 30, 2015 0:51:22 GMT
I'm terrible with numbers, but trivia is my family's first love. I was raised with Jeopardy at the dinner table every night. (Not an exaggeration. Dinner was a six because that's when Jeopardy came on. when they moved the show to four, my mom taped it and we watched it at six.)
A friend introduced me to her husband a month or so ago. During the course of our conversation we discussed a bit about his work. At one point he was surprised and said "not many people know that." All I could say was "I kinda know a lot of stuff." That's me. jack of all trades; master of none.
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QueenoftheSloths
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Post by QueenoftheSloths on Jun 30, 2015 2:46:28 GMT
By the way, my dh will ask me something and when I answer correctly he always says "how do you know that?" I've taken to responding "I'm a genius" which is totally not true but he pretends that he believes me! I like to answer that question with "I read a lot". Especially if it is something that you wouldn't know from reading a lot. I like to keep 'em guessing! |
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Post by donna on Jun 30, 2015 3:06:22 GMT
One of my strengths is that I absorb information, especially numbers. Comes in pretty handy as a Chemistry teacher. It also comes in handy for trivia competitions and for meeting new people. I can carry on a conversation with someone very easily on a multitude of topics. My dh and I are very handy to have on trivia teams. We can deal with all topics but sports.
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Post by ntsf on Jun 30, 2015 3:39:21 GMT
I know a lot about a lot of things...esp literature, civil war cannons and coastal artillery, the rise of the textile industry in new england, hydroelectric dams, alcatraz and its prisons. science, weather, ecology, ...on and on...
totally useless stuff.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 30, 2015 3:47:29 GMT
Yup. It scares me that DD can sing along with songs on the radio that she has only heard once or twice, and it scares me more that I can remember lyrics from decades worth of random songs. We're both weird like that!
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Post by yivit on Jun 30, 2015 3:59:27 GMT
695-8928 was my phone number in Montreal...I have lived on this side of the word since I was 8 apart from Japan for 10 years...We all need to know phone nos. from when we were kids, right? 882-4249. Lansing. Second grade. 1973-ish. And my friend Mary Ann's from Kindergarten. 354-4249. HUdson-44936 (then they split the exchange into 48x and 94x). I was sad when my dad got rid of his landline a few years ago because we had that number since 1965. I even remember the phone had a glow-in-the-dark sticker on the center of the dial with the number on it (the all-numbers version to remind you of the "new" number). |
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Post by lisacharlotte on Jun 30, 2015 4:16:06 GMT
My first job in the Air Force I had about 30 SSN numbers memorized from typing them so often. I could also tell you where someone was born based on their SSN. I also learned to read, write and speak a foreign language in one year. Of course, as with anything like that, you use it or lose it. Lost it.
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blue tulip
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Post by blue tulip on Jun 30, 2015 12:16:16 GMT
I worked in a grocery store 13 years ago, I can still rattle off PLUs to some of the produce and the UPCs for some cat litters too. I keep random things in my head and my family and my friends often call me to pick my brain. I wish I had more room for more useful things, like where I put my car keys every morning. this is it for me, too. does make it handy when using the U-scans for checking out tho, don't have to look up the numbers. green apples, 4017! |
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Post by Daikon on Jun 30, 2015 12:17:48 GMT
Bananas 4011! Lol
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SweetieBsMom
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Post by SweetieBsMom on Jun 30, 2015 12:47:38 GMT
I am a font of useless information |
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pridemom
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Post by pridemom on Jun 30, 2015 12:59:01 GMT
I do. It's just the way my brain works. I am fierce in trivia games, lol. In my line of work, I mentally file away information about social programs, who to contact, and other info for a region of six counties. At work they gave me A Google Award. |
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oldcrow
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Post by oldcrow on Jun 30, 2015 13:01:35 GMT
Useless - tons and tons
Useful - not so much
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But my dh, on the other hand, remembers practically every single bit of useless information you can imagine. It's a little scary, honestly. He rarely forgets anything and his mind is a trap. I'd LOVE to know what his IQ is. He not only has a great memory but he's extremely smart, logical and has common sense...not a combo you see a lot of (at least around here LOL). 
I was on the College Bowl team in college, too, so it's not JUST useless trivia that's stuck up there (although there are way too many lyrics to TV show themes).
