File-o-Philia

Have you begun to wonder if your love (read obsession) of filing has started to creep over into your out of work life?  Emerging research indicates that as many as 1 in 5 Records Managers are suffering from a condition known as File-o-Philia, meaning an unhealthy obsession with filing and organising everything.

Here are some signs to watch out for that can indicate someone you know and love has File-o-Philia:

If you are old school enough to still have a CD or record collection, you may come home to find these have now been ordered both alphabetically and chronologically. Oh the humanity!

You fancy yourself a bit of toast for breakfast and upon opening the pantry you discover that your spreads have been placed into a colour coded classification with a legend clearly outlining how to operate your new system. Ermmm…

If the spreads weren’t bad enough, you become inspired to whip up a curry from scratch and visit the spice rack to find your aromatics organised alphabetically and by country of origin. Gah!

You like a bit of music to cook to so you crank open iTunes and horror of horrors, your collection has been sub classified into 1,600 different genres and 1,300 of them are Jazz variants. Stop the insanity!

It’s November and you start thinking about your much anticipated annual Christmas emails. You open up outlook and notice you have 27 drafts in your outbox, upon further investigation you find out they are Christmas JibJab eCards ready to send to your relatives starting from oldest living to youngest. ARGH!

We are in the process of setting up an 0800 number for sufferers of File-o-Philia and their friends and family. In the meantime, do not approach a sufferer on your own; make sure you have back up or you could find yourself archived for good.