My mother is definitely not an enabler when it comes to my OCD. My fear of germs has been difficult for her to accept. One of the hardest things for her to deal with, as stated before, is my inability to hug her, lest I should have to take a super-shower. I do feel guilty, but the OCD exerts its stranglehold. But it so happens that, at work, I do have an enabler of sorts.
I have let my OCD be known to a couple of people that I work with. One is my neighbor in the next cubicle. I did not intend to tell her, but she was so inquisitive that I finally let down my guard with her. Sometimes I wonder if it was a mistake to tell anyone, but at other times the rewards are apparent.
This week my enabler picked up a document off the floor for me. I couldn’t simply pick it up with my foot and throw it in the garbage; it had to be walked over to the shredder. On another day, she came over and asked if I knew where a large, empty box on her cubicle floor had come from. I played dumb. I thought that I could kick it into her cubicle on her day off, and she would think that someone else had put it there. But she seems to have caught on to some of my tricks. No matter how much I denied it, she insisted that I had put it there. I doubt that it helped my case that I was smiling the entire time.
Surely, though, I would have compassion for a woman who was seven months pregnant. One would think that. Last year a piece of candy rolled onto the floor and under my cabinet. I didn’t want to leave it there as it would attract pests. I pictured myself on the floor with a ruler trying to find the candy and roll it out from under the cabinet. That had trouble written all over it. Then my neighbor walked over. I felt a little guilty asking, but I took her short stature into consideration, and it wasn’t that far to the ground for her. I got an “Are you really asking me to do this?” look from her, and I was half-joking when I asked, but a minute later she was on the floor with a pencil and quickly retrieved the piece of candy. No harm done. Mother and baby were fine.
This is why it pays to be friendly to people. I trained this co-worker for her position, and modesty aside, I was the most patient and easy-going trainer that she could have had. She still has questions at times, and I always stop what I am doing to assist her. She returns the kindness by being my enabler. I wish that I could have one everywhere I go.
