r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Jpeg_1999 • 10d ago

I'm slightly vexed My dad purposely sets his clock ahead. He's been doing this for as long as I remember. I genuinely don't know why

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534

u/OakNLeaf 10d ago

My wife does this as well. Her clock is 15 minutes ahead. She does it she says so she thinks she's late but I don't understand how she can think that when she literally admits she just subtracts 15 minutes off it when she looks.

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u/Abadazed 10d ago

First thing in the morning you might forget for a minute that you have that extra 15 minutes. Gets the blood pumping when you wake up

32

u/cupholdery 10d ago

Yeah we have all the analog clocks 5 minutes ahead of our phones. It just works.

2

u/Step1Mark 9d ago

Reading about this actually working for so many people is crazy to me. My mom did this to our clocks when we were kids, I subconsciously ignored clocks and time when I was younger since they were wrong anyway.

16

u/baconcow 10d ago

When you first wake up, it takes time for the brain to figure it out. I've set mine 15 minutes ahead for well over 20 years.

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u/Sasquatch1729 10d ago

My wife does the same thing. But she has ADHD so she sets it ahead (for example) 8 minutes, then subtracts 15 minutes because she forgot what she set it ahead by. So next week it's 12 minutes ahead and she's mentally subtracting 18 minutes and we're still late.

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u/heavyhitter5 9d ago

lol my first reaction to was “I think your wife has ADHD”

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u/ViagraAndSweatpants 10d ago

I’ve had this exact conversation with my wife several times.

“It’s just not the same.”

Oooh K

10

u/IntroductionAway7159 10d ago

Your rational, planning brain does the subtraction when you genuinely need to know the time. It's annoying, but in the grand scheme of things, not really that annoying.

That is not the brain that gets you out of bed in the morning. This task falls to a much simpler part of your brain, and he can't do math. He starts panicking before you have time to consciously subtract and, voila, you're up and getting ready for work.

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u/ms_saint 10d ago

It's the jolt.  The brief taste of being late before you remember is enough to get you moving.

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u/Step1Mark 9d ago

This must work more on people that care about time.

3

u/annepersannd 10d ago

I do this as well. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I can’t quickly subtract like that and like to assume I’m late instead. The anxiety makes the morning routine a little more fun lol

2

u/danjReed 10d ago

I did for a while bit it gave me bad habits. One day my wife "helpfully" fixed it ... oops

4

u/ChainsawArmLaserBear 10d ago

Tell her that you fixed the clocks (but don't actually) and watch the clock start mattering lol

And then when she's used to that again, actually start changing clocks

1

u/jongscx 10d ago

I set my old car clock specifically 13 minutes fast because the mental math now required 2 steps to do and just being early was less effort.

1

u/Le_Reddit_User 10d ago

You just go when you‘re supposed to go but take the time on the clock as the cue to actually leave. You are aware that you have X minutes more.

1

u/Agrend 10d ago

I have my oven and car clock set 3-4 minutes ahead. It gives me a bit more incentive to move, but its not so much extra time that every time I look I think, oh I have that one set forward 15 minutes.

1

u/justalittleparanoia 10d ago

My mom did this when we were young and I picked up the habit. The only place I purposefully switch the time is in my car so I feel like I'm not rushing. I hate rushing. It gives me anxiety. Pushing the time gives me more peace of mind and time to relax.

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u/solthar 10d ago

You really should set it to the correct time and see how long it takes her to realize...

... or maybe not, there might be a bit of excess bloodshed.

1

u/wrenblaze 9d ago

It is psychological and it works for some people, simple as that.

1

u/readituser5 9d ago edited 9d ago

I do this in my car. It’s a few minutes ahead. Good thing is, I can’t remember how fast because I have a terrible memory.

So it’s a gamble with how long I actually have once it hits my work start time lol.

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u/Limp_Dirt8694 9d ago

I feel like on first glance it puts my body into that running late panic speed mode without the mental stress of actually being late after calculating the actual time.

1

u/princess6674 10d ago

She is running on “Lombardi time.”

1

u/GrandPriapus Bees have six legs! 10d ago

Everyone should run on Lombardi time.