Tonight I confessed one of my secret impulse control problems. And, no, it's not eating any kind of food. I like to push buttons, not people's buttons, real buttons, especially if you're not supposed to push them. This is an impulse I control fairly well, better than others (eating chocolate for example!). With the kids around, I have lots of safe buttons I can push to help with the desire to push a button.
I used to work at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research. It's on a university campus. In every elevator there is an emergency call button/box/phone/speaker. The elevator in our building had a door you opened. Inside was a speaker and a red button.
One day, while I was riding the elevator alone I had the urge to push the button. You'd think I would have plenty of buttons to push in the lab. Apparently this day there wasn't enough.
I assumed that there would be no one to answer at the other end of the emergency button. I just figured it was there for the fire personnel or police, if there happened to be an emergency.
I pushed the button...A voice spoke to me out of the speaker, "Do you have an emergency?"
To which I replied, after a long delay, "No, I accidentally pushed the button."
Thankfully no one came to check up on me. Guess it helps to be on a college campus.
Did I mention I was 23 yo at the time?
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