Sure, I have perfectionist tendencies. Psychologists and economists would call me a maximizer (in contrast to a satisficer) which often results in not optimizing what one values by erroneously not accounting for the opportunity cost of the decision-making process. But what follows is a case of its paying off, and a good answer to one of those “why should we hire you?” job interview questions.
I’ve been living in my current apartment for just less than a month, and since I moved in had been dissatisfied with not being able to use the keypad outside the garage door to open it. My housemate and I had only remote controls, which was inconvenient, especially on Sunday when both of mine ended up in my car (locked in the garage) and the housemate was out. The landlord claimed that the keypad was “not connected” or never worked, and my housemate, having living here for two years, never inquired. But fed up as I was, I finally realized how silly it would be for the keypad to be connected via a wire, and not simply be another remote control. I installed a 12-volt battery, noticed that the keys lit up, and in less than 30 seconds on-line I found a site with simple instructions on how to program the keypad. It worked the first time! Yes!
