OCD, OCD, OCD!

The other day I took two of my manuscripts of

poetry to the Officemax to have them coil-bound.

It had taken me several months of writing and

editing, selecting just the right pictures from my

collection to assemble the compilation.

So, it is no wonder I was very particular about how

the finished product should look—black coils, clear

vinyl covers, black vinyl backs, I instructed the clerk

at the counter. And please take great care, these are

originals and I do not have them saved to my computer.

I got a wincing nod in acknowledgement. I’ll have

these ready about 4 o’clock this afternoon, he told

me. I left the store as my Obsessive Compulsive Dis-

order kicked in—I hope he understands all the work

I put into those two editions.

And I hope and pray he doesn’t screw them up.

4 o’clock, he said they would be ready for pick up

at 4 o’clock. I sure hope…well, it’s too late now.

It’s out of my hands. He did look the capable sort,

didn’t he?

Not your disgruntled, run-of-the-mill, I-don’t-

give-a-shit, I hate my job and I detest every

customer who comes in here, especially those

who tell me what to do type of guys. 4 o’clock,

huh, why would it take so long?

He didn’t look that busy. I could have done both

books in 15-minutes. 4 o’clock, six-hours from now.

I sure hope he gets it right. And I managed to wait

The whole thing out, only thinking about the out-

come four or five times.

Well, I did give it some consideration as I ate my

lunch. And the subject did come to mind a few

times during the football game I was watching on

TV. But I managed to survive until the pick-up time

we agreed upon—4 o’ clock.

I certainly hope he got it right. It seems the more I

lose control of things as I age, the more I obsess

over those things which I have no influence over

In the first place. I could have made it easier on

myself and not taken those papers to be bound.

But the need to have them rigidly connected in

book form so that they didn’t decide to scatter

out in all directions was a stronger impulse for

me. And the book binding turned out just fine.

The young man did a very acceptable job.

My obsessive behavior served only to aggravate

me, but it did help to pass the time I had to face

waiting. Geeze, 4 o’clock, really? I could have

done it a hell of a lot sooner than that. I mean,

it was just a couple of simple coil bindings.

Chris Hanch  9-21-15