Drives and Walks of Shame

Network World has an article Doing the Laptop Drive of Shame. This is one of my minor fears. It would be a big fear if I lived far from the office or worked at a job that couldn't generally be done remotely. The chances of me doing this is really quite high.

When I lived in an apartment as a single guy, it often took me three tries to get away from home.

1. First, I would lock the apartment door, then realize "dang, forgot my _____" (insert critical thing like my briefcase.) Back on in.
   
2. Second, I would lock my apartment door, walk down the stairs and just to the door to exit the building. At that point, I would realize that I forgot my wallet (or something similarly important.) Back up the stairs and into the apartment.
   
3. Finally, after getting my wallet, I would make it to the car and realize that I forgot one more thing (perhaps even my car keys.) Time to walk back across the parking lot, into the building, up the stairs, and into my apartment.
   

I sometimes imagined that someone watching my routine would have thought me a really dim or crazy person, but chances are that nobody really noticed or cared, so my shame was mostly internal. It wasn't a public walk of shame that anybody ever noticed.

Now that I live in a house with an attached garage, the trip from briefcase/wallet/keys to car is a short one, so round trips at home are quick ones. At the office, it often takes me one or two attempts to leave, but those trips are generally between the door to my office (which I share with ten co-workers) and my desk. Not much shame there. I'm a doofus, but that is not news to my co-workers.