Warning: Sense of humor required. If you don't have one, scroll on by.This clearly doesn't apply to all men, but it seems to be a trait with the men in my family and those who work for me - the refusal to file. They are more than happy to use the copy machine and staple papers (maybe it's because it involves a machine of some sort and a tool, which makes it appealing), but when it comes to filing them, papers will often make it to a basket of "things to be filed" or occupy a corner of a desk, where they will remain until the end of time unless a woman comes along and takes the initiative to file them. It reminds me of some discussions my mom had with my brothers about dirty clothes when they were teens: dirty clothes cannot walk to the clothes hamper, you have to walk a few steps and place them there. So it goes with documents to be filed. A man's computer desktop is likewise often cluttered with documents rather than placed in a document directory or sub-directory.The arguments I often hear: 1) What difference does it make, as long as I know where things are in the clutter of papers? 2) I still need them for reference (even if it's a three year old event file). 3) I like to have things I might possibly need readily available. 4) I'll get to it tomorrow.
So men, is this you? Women, is this a common trait with men in your life?
Is there a genetic reason why men won't file papers (or digital documents)?
*smiling* Answer 1 It's what we do. Get over it. Next? Answer 2 We really are just cavemen and the thought of doing women's work is beneath us. Answer 3 There is porn on the computer, not at the file cabinet. Answer 4 I have no idea, my significant other has my man card in her purse Lmao Just kidding Hope this made you smile
I think the theory is those people are overly disciplined as kids. They grow up to be messy and disorganized. Subconscious rebellion, giving them a sense of autonomy and freedom.
I don't have this issue with the man in my life. I think that is mostly because he is forced to be organized for work. There is a lot of paperwork he sorts through each week for clients.
So, I think because of that he has mostly good habits for that sort of thing outside of work as well. He is a pretty neat and tidy type guy as it is with just about everything. I think it is in his personality to do so.
That said, because he has to sort so much paperwork for work purposes, I keep on top of bills and such at home so he doesn't have to. Go team!
My husband doesn't deal with that much paper at work, and is a total technology nerd. Fortunately he doesn't work here, and wants no part of the business. He'd rather scan and digitally file, then shred anything paper.
My dad is a paradox of himself. In spaces open to client or public view, everything is neatly in its place. He's OCD about some things, like in his work shop. Everything there is neatly organized, every tool cleaned and in its proper place on pegboard or in cabinets. But give him papers in an office, he's a hot mess. Thankfully he retired and is out of my hair workwise, otherwise either he or I would meet an untimely demise. I love my dad, but when it comes to work the town ain't big enough for the both of us.
with my OCD tendencies and fixations with some orderly-neatness-organization, my place, my work and pretty much everything else is just like that... clean, sharp, in place, everything belongs and makes sense
however, there are some things that might not be, especially a couple of things... and this is because for me is some sort of relief and release, I never make my bed, lol, usually I just get up and leave it like that and by night time, when I go back to sleep I like to find it just the way I left it in the morning (this is when I'm single though, if living with someone they always like to make the bed) and the only time I make my bed is when I change the sheets (which is often enough)
now the other thing that would not make sense, would be my area of work... ever since high-school, back in the days in which I used to study on backgrounds of design, engineering, architecture, physics, research, science and all that stuff, that all required a lot of books, a lot of tools, sheets, instruments, calculations and big desks... and when I started to work I had all ready and organized to start, but once I started it would all become, seemingly a mess, but it was MY mess, my organized chaos, it could be dozens of books and paper sheets all over the area and I might need just two pages among the pile but I knew exactly where they would be and where they ended up, lol
and references, I didn't write down notes for references or pointers lmao... so yeah, this could be complicated sometimes, when it would be about teamwork, working with me could be very peculiar because I was organized in my mess but to others it was just a mess, lol... but yeah, I managed to adjust to others instead of imposing or clashing my ways with others
so, nowadays... if I can work on my own, I do like my organized chaos, if I have to work with others, then I will adjust it just to make it more efficient, the problems would arise when their ways are not efficient... haha
Yup. That is me to an extent. Except my desktop files are pretty cleaned up. Maybe because I am based in IT but yeah everything else is pretty ditto. Women are often more orderly. Men are more straightforward. Same reason why guys can get away with wearing one pair of shoes for most occasions and women need s variety lol.
Yup. See? My mother has several handbags. At least 8, of different sizes and shapes, even a really small one you can only fit some cash in (which you could in a pocket), whereas I got one backpack lol.
I have only one backpack (NOT a Hello Kitty backpack) I used in college for my laptop. I have more than 8 purses, but I'll admit, I tend to use only two of them most times. The others are for whenever I need them lol.
Well, if you study human evolution and evolutionary psychology, you'll see that men had bigger ranges than women, on average they spread over several times the area while foraging, hunting and guarding territory.
I think it was brett weinstein that posited that since men had bigger ranges and would frequently need to create stashes of resources, like nuts, that evolution made men believe that creating a stash was equivalent to making use of the resources, and that spending said resource was the same as losing it, so men would forget their stashes and therefore disseminate the seeds of edible nuts.
It's like a squirrel. One big reason why men like prepping isn't the self reliance thing, but the fact that storing canned food feeds that instinct that helped propagate nuts around.
Ugh, I am the exact opposite, and what you describe drives me insane.
I'm the person who has about 5 icons on my desktop, and all of my files are neatly organized in sub-folder after sub-folder. I'm also the guy that went around the office begging for more physical folders and tabs, to organize my physical files.
People that can't (or won't) organize things just make my OCD want to implode. I can't look at someone else's paperwork/computer without wanting to organize it for them.
Oddly enough, in my experience, it doesn't seem to be limited to men, but just an individual thing. I know both men and women who are on both ends of that (dis) organized spectrum.
List of things to do this week (every man has one in his head at all times) 1. Work. 2. Pay bill 3. Get gas 4. Clean out garage *phone call from old college buds*
1. Work. 2. Pay bill 3. Get gas 4. Hang out with buds 5. Clean out garage
*Elden Ring comes out*
1. Work. 2. Pay bill 3. Get gas 4. Hang out with buds 5. Play Elden Ring 6. Clean out garage.
*Wife mad that you never spend time with her*
1. Work. 2. Pay bill 3. Get gas 4. Hang out with buds 5. Play Elden Ring 6. Go see some dumb movie with Cheryl 7. Clean out garage.
I hate dealing with paper stuff. I'll just put it in a folder and forget about it, until I need that document. Then, whenever I need it, I'll turn my room inside out in order to find that document, completely forgetting I've put it in a folder... "out there somewhere". 🤣
But when it's a digital file on the computer, everything is arranged in perfect order by logic and my desktop contains only shortcuts to games + conky.
lol That isn't me. I'm the highly organized person that gets angry when people mess up my organized desk. Though my desk at home isn't nowhere as organized as my one at work. Simply because it does not have to be. But I sure as hell can't say the same about my filing cabinet at home. The entire reason you use a filing cabinet is to keep paperwork organized so you better believe my file cabinet at home and work is always well organized.
I admit that I do that too. I leave them on one end of my dining room table and I have come across some that were a couple years old. I once got my renewal credit card in the mail and when I went through my pile of unfiled papers I found the previous credit card that was never activated and now expired. lol It was sitting there for years.
That probably goes a bit deeper, specifically enjoying excitement and randomized clutter over tedium and monotony. Even when I file papers so I know where my art is, I hate doing it, and I only do it so I can find things, and I feel like I have to offset the organization with decorative clutter, like if it looks too organized it's boring.
I don't doubt you one bit, but at my place it's men copy and staple, women file. Men's computer desktops, even two-monitor set-ups, will be cluttered with icons.
A clean desk/computer desktop is the sign of a person who doesn't do any work, period. Putting things away only so you have to take them out again is an incredible waste of time, you will understand when you get a job that's other than tidying.
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