OCD Gag Gifts

Though OCD is no laughing matter for the sufferer, I personally like a good gag that pokes fun at my disorder. If you can’t laugh at the problem, you’re going to have a much tougher time getting a handle on things.

But it has to be a gag that’s cleverly done. The OCD hand sanitizer someone gave me for Christmas is an example of a good one:

Repeated hand cleaning was never my biggest OCD quirk. Checking my laptop bag a dozen times before leaving work and checking the door nob before leaving the house were much bigger hangups for me. But I have used a lot of hand sanitizer in my day, so this may come in handy at some point.

OK, it won’t. Taking it out of the package would ruin the joke.

So I’ve hung it right beneath the “Happy Childhood Memories” breath spray someone gave me at Christmastime six years ago.

One thing that would totally rock is a special OCD-proof laptop bag. I picture something see-through, the idea being that if you can see what’s in the bag, there’s no reason to unzip it a bunch of times.

I’ve actually heard of such bags being designed and manufactured so people going through airport security don’t have to take the computer out of the bag.

There are T-shirts and buttons that are supposed to be clever but are just stupid and unoriginal. Take this button, for example:

There are a lot of T-shirts that poke fun at all the stereotypical OCD quirks, but they’re just not amusing. It’s not that they hurt our feelings. They’re just not even close to clever:

Perfectionist? Control freak? Boring and predictable.

But I did find exceptions, like this one, which hits me where I live since I’m a writer and Erin’s an editor:

There’s an OCD man action figure, which also plays into the more predictable jokes. But I give the makers of this one high marks for effort.

I also managed to come across a clock for people with OCD. I would definitely hang this one up for all too see. I would also expect people to do what the clock says at the top of each hour:

The wall hangings are as hit or miss as the T-shirts, but given my love of heavy metal music, I couldn’t help but like this one:

The “Si” is a little bit stupid, but not enough to be a deal breaker.

Finally, there are the mouse pads. In particular, this mouse pad, which is brilliant in its simplicity:

No, it doesn’t bother me.