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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be worried about the fact I forget where I'm sitting in the office?

35 replies

memorybad · 31/01/2024 22:08

I work in a large open plan office where we hot seat so we tend to sit in different places each time. I tend to book my seat early so I can be near the window, and my team tends to sit in a certain area of the office. That said, whenever I get up to go and get a drink, go to a meeting or go to the loo I can never remember where I'm sat. I usually make sure to leave something on my desk like my bright water bottle, or I make a mental note of who I'm sat next to. I always feel over-stimulated in the office, it's noisy and bright and I hate being there so I'm not sure if that's why.

Does anyone else do this? Is it normal? lol

I do forget other things to do with spatial things, like I'll forget when coming out of a shop onto the high street I tend to walk the wrong way/not remember which way I was walking down the street. It also takes me a long time to learn where things are, like where certain meeting rooms are or the way back to my hotel room, etc.

OP posts:
cakewitch · 31/01/2024 22:17

I'll be following this thread with interest as this is me also.

Onekidnoclue · 31/01/2024 22:18

It’s like forgetting where you parked your car. Easily done. Down bundle yourself off to the old people’s home quite yet.

Allywill · 31/01/2024 22:21

Same - I often wander around the office looking for my seat. Also often can’t find car in car park, and have been known to get lost coming out of toilet in restaurants. Poor sense of direction generally. I don’t worry about it because I’ve always been like this.

ChilliPB · 31/01/2024 22:22

Easily done. I sit in an open plan office and hot-desk and have to look for my coat/bag or the person sitting on the same bank as me to find my desk. I only go in a couple of times a month and sit in different places so I’m just not familiar.

Notfastjustfurious · 31/01/2024 22:28

Same. When we first returned to the office and I had to go down to see customers I had to repeat 'left, left, left' to myself to find the way and 'right etc' to get back to my floor. I've worked there 10 years 😳
Often think my car's been stolen from the Tesco carpark. My brain just isn't wired for directions.

Tomorrowtomorrow77 · 31/01/2024 22:30

Yes. This is me. Thought it was just me…..

Userxyd · 31/01/2024 22:32

Could you wear a bright scarf with your coat and leave it on the back of your chair for quick identification?

Brandyb · 31/01/2024 22:33

How many people are in the office, roughly?

I must say this thread makes me feel better about my own lack of direction/internal compass. My husband is a machine. We go to a foreign city and he can find our way home after a couple of cocktails unerringly and generally without consulting a map. It can get feisty when I'm driving, because he'll assume I know where I'm going and doesn't bother to navigate. Our brains are so different

WartyMcFly · 31/01/2024 22:40

I’m exactly the same OP, if it weren’t for the tracking feature in my car I don’t think I’d ever be able to find where I’d parked it

cheesedome · 31/01/2024 22:47

This sounds just like me, I’ve got a terrible sense of direction as well. I’ve recently wondered if I’ve got dyscalculia because I’ve got no sense of direction and I’m terrible with numbers. I think it might be connected to adhd, which I also believe I’ve got.

ThirtyThrillionThreeTrees · 31/01/2024 22:49

I have this with in my work car park, 10 storey multi storey.

I'll always park in the second row. If that means going up a floor or two that's ok. At least it means I only have to go up or down a floor if I forget. I csn also tell, before 8pm, floor 1-3, 8.30am 4-6, 9am 7-9, after 9, I'm on the roof.

In unfamiliar carparks, I just take a pic if the car or the nearest sign that's easily identifiable.

No issue anywhere but car parks.

Can you try making it routine? Always on the left, first 3 seats etc?

cariadlet · 31/01/2024 22:55

I do a lot of those things. For me, it's linked to my autism.

I used to go to my local gym and it took me months to automatically know whether I had to turn left or right at the top of the stairs rather than having to stop and think about it.

IBegYourBiggestPardon · 31/01/2024 22:57

I'm the idiot who wonders round aimlessly, trying to find where I was sitting in restaurants, after going to the toilet.

Objectrelations · 31/01/2024 22:58

I'm the exact opposite my brain loves this stuff but I am completely hopeless at remembering names and faces.

m00rfarm · 31/01/2024 22:59

I have always been like this. When I park the car, go into a shop etc, I always have to find a marker of some sort so I can find my way back. A lot of people I know are like this. We will go to a city regularly, and then cannot quite remember where a certain restaurant is, or go the quickest way back to the hotel, for example. I am used to it, and therefore have coping mechanisms. I also have a problem with faces. However, watching someone walk, play tennis etc, I know who they are straightaway. Faces I just cannot do.

Springisnear4 · 31/01/2024 22:59

I'm dyspraxic and this sounds like me

SayNoToDoorToDoor · 31/01/2024 23:17

With cars…

when you get out of the car turn and survey the car park.. is your car next to a big tree or a bus stop or something that doesn’t move, is it in the 2nd or 3rd row or near the exit? I can build up a mental picture now but I used to take an actual picture.

I also have a little ball on my ariel to make my car stand out.

For my desk I book miles in advance and book the same desk on the day eg Monday desk 1, Wednesday desk 12. So I know I’ll be sat at one of those two desks when I come back from the loo.

I also have a note on my phone which pairs my desk & my parking space number by day.

If I’m in an unfamiliar place I’ll walk down the street then turn around to check out what the street looks like so I know I’m going the right way. Not needed so much now we have directions on the phone but it’s a habit after I got lost abroad once and couldn’t find the coach.

ellie09 · 31/01/2024 23:58

Don't worry about it.

I worked long hours in a stressful job a few years back. I walked in at 7:30, logged in and started work.

I got a message from manager asking where I was and checked time. It was 9am (pre covid too so no WFH)

Turns out I went to the wrong floor, at the wrong desk, sitting amongst a team I didnt know and was completely oblivious.

It was the laugh of the office for months 😂

ichundich · 01/02/2024 00:01

No, but I book my desk a few days before and then when I get in, I can never remember which desk it was. Sometimes I take a photo of my booking haha!

UsualChaos · 01/02/2024 00:04

Allywill · 31/01/2024 22:21

Same - I often wander around the office looking for my seat. Also often can’t find car in car park, and have been known to get lost coming out of toilet in restaurants. Poor sense of direction generally. I don’t worry about it because I’ve always been like this.

Me too, and I have a dyspraxia diagnosis.

KreedKafer · 01/02/2024 00:16

Yes, me. I’m dyspraxic.

happinessischocolate · 01/02/2024 06:06

Take a photo of either your desk or the view from it every morning.

Same in the car park take a photo of the level youre on 😁

It's the only way 😂😂😂

youveturnedupwelldone · 01/02/2024 06:13

I always pick the same desk every week because I forget where I'm sitting, get lost etc. I've worked in the same office for 3 yrs now. I also lose my car periodically!

For me it's linked to dyslexia/dyspraxia - no one ever talks about the non reading and writing difficulties.

pootlin · 01/02/2024 06:23

i think people are creatures of habit, so moving seats is quite disorienting.

Are you you booking the same seat?

If not, could you set a reminder to your diary to book the same seat each day, before anyone else books it?

If you do book the same seat every day and still don’t remember where you sit, then yes, I would say that’s worth investigating.

memorybad · 01/02/2024 14:35

I book usually one of two specific seats (I like being near the window), but the layout of the office is very samey so I can never remember where I am. I try and make a mental note of where I am in relation to the kitchen or meeting pods which helps slightly but I always need to look for my belongings to find my way back.

I'm also bad at remembering names and faces!

OP posts: