Anal-Retentive Accountants
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382036)
Rockingham, Australia
May 3, 2017 8:25am CST
ARM (@responsiveme) commented on one of my posts. She read 'two twenty-eight' parrots and thought there were 56. The error was blamed on the fact that ARM had been a maths teacher and 'twenty-eight' is a strange name for a bird anyway. It seems to me that some people are number-oriented and others prefer to deal with words.
I know an accountant who later got a job in a school as a Careers Advisory Officer. He was hard put not to laugh when consulting with a mother about her son's choice of career path. The woman didn't want the child to become an 'anal-retentive' accountant.
Vince is a numbers person. And he likes to be exact with his calculations. If I say it's seven kilometres to town, he'll butt in and say, very pompously, that 'actually, it's 7.2 kilometres'. Obviously, such remarks don't go down so well with me so he tends not to do it so often now – especially if I call him 'anal-retentive'. 
So are you a numbers person or a words person? Or a bit of both?
The photo is of a sheep. I like sheep.
So are you a numbers person or a words person? Or a bit of both?
The photo is of a sheep. I like sheep.36 people like this
37 responses
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
3 May 17
I am a clock watcher, I almost always know what time it is. As far as numbers go I like to round them out.
3 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
3 May 17
@JudyEv I sure do, and when I haven't looked at the clock I am usually very close when I think I know the time.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
3 May 17
@Marty1 I don't write anything down but I almost always know what time it is.
2 people like this
@TiarasOceanView (70020)
• United States
3 May 17
I can be focusing on nearly anything if I feel in the mood to be, but usually am not someone who constantly corrects others..it is the height of rudeness to me to do so and for me it is highly annoying if someone does that because it reveals to me a sort of retardation, someone who can only focus on one thing, or it can signify someone who feels a sort of false power or superiority, when in fact they are sub standard in their approach to life.
Uh huh.
3 people like this
@TiarasOceanView (70020)
• United States
4 May 17
@JudyEv Oh no no need to tell him lol He might get huffy Oh I know you can Judy give as good as you get and more power to you.
Oh I know you can Judy give as good as you get and more power to you.1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
I quite liked geometry and algebra till they got too hard - which was about six months into the school year.
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
@Lupita234 Trigonometry was worse.
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (14805)
• Ireland
3 May 17
@judyev numbers make no sense to me at all. Once I get to 10 I'm finished. My brother is even worse but is an accountant who simply cannot count. He says computers do the arithmetic for him and his role is deciding what to do with the answers the computers give him. He just decides which column the numbers go it. Nice sheep.
3 people like this
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
I'm surprised your brother enjoys being an accountant in that case. When my nephew first got a simple calculator as a young child he'd challenge my Mum to simple 'sums'. In most cases she could do it in her head quicker than he could tap in the numbers.
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
3 May 17
I make the remark to a woman I was dating many years ago that the days were getting longer. She said, "Days are always 24 hours." I would have called her "anal-retentive" if I would have thought of it.
2 people like this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
4 May 17
@JudyEv Yes. I heard her talking to one of her friends and she was very upset over my cooking. When I cook I guess at measurements. She was telling her friend that since I did not use exact measurements what I cooked should taste horrible but it didn't and that really upset her. How could something taste good when the measurements were not exact? Come to think of it, even though she wasn't working as an accountant she had gone to college and got a degree in accounting. I had forgotten that until just now. No wonder she was "anal-retentive"!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
@RichardMeister Some of course are worse than others. Your (ex) friend sounds like she was a really bad case. Vince isn't that bad but he still doesn't cope well with generalities or averages when it comes to figures. And when he fills the car the next few miles are taken up with calculating how many miles per gallon or whatever. They can't seem to help themselves.
1 person likes this
And you can't really dispute it.
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36847)
• Pamplona, Spain
3 May 17
Words person for sure.
Numbers are not my favourite thing really but there they are.
I will stick with my words instead.
2 people like this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36847)
• Pamplona, Spain
4 May 17
@JudyEv
For me also they agree with me more.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
Is there such a thing? I sometimes transpose numbers. Maybe I have an excuse for being a bit slow numberwise.
@LadyDuck (502429)
• Italy
3 May 17
@Daljinder It's not my thing either, I have never liked math and the numbers.
3 people like this
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
@Daljinder I enjoy most puzzles - as long as there's no adding up. 
3 people like this
@Daljinder (23193)
• Bangalore, India
3 May 17
@LadyDuck I don't enjoy Sudoku either. Its interesting to play but not my thing
3 people like this
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
Sudoku doesn't actually involve maths skills though does it? They could just as easily use symbols or letters. There is no actual adding up or whatever. 'Complicated numbers puzzles' are a different kettle of fish. I steer clear of them! 
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10782)
• Canada
3 May 17
Definitely a words person. Always hated math and was never that good at it even though I did take a one year accounting course and worked in the field for a short time, and I can do my own taxes as a result. I have survived and flourished without it. Good thing my husband is the math person and all my kids took after him in tat regard.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 May 17
I did basic accounting as a mature-age student and coped but I'm really a 'word' person. I can't remember figures. I'm always having to ask Vince how much our rain-water tank holds so I can tell people but the number just doesn't stick. I think it's 10,000 litres. It doesn't help that Australia changed to decimal everything when I was about 16 so I don't have mental images of some metric values.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 May 17
@CRK109 Me too. I did lots of posts on all livestock breeds on Infobarrel. And I think on Bubblews I might have done A-Z of sheep breeds. Australia once had just ordinary old Merinos then some British breeds started appearing and now there are all sorts.
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
Well, it is a writing site, isn't it? Most seem to be word people.
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
5 May 17
I actually was a bookkeeper so I am a number person but words are my forte as well. Now science, that escapes me lol
2 people like this
@andriaperry (118793)
• Anniston, Alabama
4 May 17
Numbers but I am getting better at being a words person. I now will spell my numbers
2 people like this
@Daljinder (23193)
• Bangalore, India
3 May 17
A bit of both? Although I am more inclined towards the words. I was excellent at Math and English both so it is sort of hard to tell exactly
2 people like this
@responsiveme (22923)
• India
3 May 17
Sheep..As in plural or single? Ha ha there goes the numbers again....
But I love words too...So for me it's a bit of both
Nice being in a post.Thanks
Nice being in a post.Thanks2 people like this
@FayeHazel (40230)
• United States
3 May 17
Most certainly I am a words person. :-) There is a big reason I took logic rather than a math class
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382036)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 May 17
Definitely logic over maths any time. We call is maths here mostly - another difference.
