9 Dumb Things I Do On A Daily Basis

As a freelance writer, I am happy to call the coffee shop my home office. I eat here, drink here...I've even had DHL deliver a package here. I am like Perez Hilton, minus the scribbled snarky comments or brightly hued hair.

Something else I do while perched at my table and chair of choice: Feel the need to use the washroom. It happens to the best of us, occasionally - especially post-Grande Americano. Now, the intelligent thing to do when nature calls would be to pack up my stuff and hit the washroom. The stupid, begging-for-trouble thing to do would be to ask a complete and total stranger to "please watch my stuff while I run the ladies' room."

Guess which one I do?

It's not just me; I see it happen all the time. People leaving their wallets, computers, keys, cell phones - their entire lives, practically - at the mercy of an unknown public because it's simply too much of a pain to power down and pack up for a few minutes. Men and women alike have asked me to "keep an eye" on their stuff while they left the building, grabbed a sandwich across the street and came back. Apparently I have an honest face.

The problem is, lots of people do, making it easy to entrust them with my livelihood while I void my bladder. I need to stop (asking strangers, not peeing) but it's a hard habit to break. I want to believe in the kindness and honesty of strangers, I want to believe the magical Starbucks goddess will watch over my fake Kate Spade and (not fake) Toshiba when I'm not looking. But all I'm really doing is feeding myself a venti-sized cup of BS.

Other stupid things I do which need to come to a screeching halt:

Text while walking across a busy street (and while I refrain from emailing while driving - a practice which wouldn't even make linguistic sense 10 years ago - I have been guilty of pulling it out at red lights. For shame.)

Drink bottled water. I'm trying to cut back so as not to hurry the planet along on its pathway to flames.

Slouch.

Instinctively exclaim "Sorry!" when someone bumps into ME on the street.

Eat a giant bolus of sugar in the form of low-fat cookie dough ice cream straight from the carton at 11:30pm, right before going to sleep.

Fail to notice when my Swiss clockwork PMS is rearing its hideous head (usually every fourth Tuesday night, right around the time I am committing the mistake directly above....while screaming and/or crying.)

Sacrifice precious moments of my life to watching horrid reality TV.

Respond - albeit reflexively - to an errant catcall or come on. I need to keep your eyes straight ahead even if the woman inside me is screaming a big fat swear-a-thon...turning and looking at a truck-full of losers only eggs them on.

Not invest my money to its full potential (NOTE: This has been fixed as of last month, thanks to a new financial advisor - let the dough start rolling in! Or not, considering the economy.)

Which of these do you do/not do?