Buncher or Folder?

Do you use a napkin when you eat, especially something like pizza? Are you eating right now, or did you just finish up? Look at your napkin now or maybe at the finish of your next (messy) meal. This, of course, is assuming you used it. My kids are doled out napkins, and they look the same after dinner as they did before dinner! My wife and I, we use ours.

As we were finishing up a great dinner one night, I noticed that my wife’s napkin was all bunched up. I looked at mine and saw that it was folded up. Hmm… Then at the next dinner, I noticed the same thing – Amy bunched and I folded. Over the last year or so, it’s always been the same and thus we’ve become known, to each other and to our kids, as The Buncher (Amy) and The Folder (me).  

What’s strange is…anyone who knows us – like our kids – would most definitely categorize us as the opposite!

Amy would most certainly be The Folder- she’s organized, focused and a high-level planner, also fun, spontaneous and enthusiastic. Some of those oppose the others, but it all seems to work out – in some sort of magical, organized and fluid way. Ultimately, she is the administrative genius in our home – clearly a Folder, right?

I tend to be the quick-acting, detail fighting, get-to-it kind of guy; yet I can and do plan and organize – just with far less natural effort and definitely with less precision. Clearly The Buncher, right?

Maybe we’re all a little more complicated than our classic labeling might suggest.  As an Authorized DiSC Partner, I’ve always been cautious of any superficial approach to understanding each person’s individual assessment. For example, Amy is an I-S style – enthusiastic, steady and supportive. Without going into too much detail – the surface approach or labeling would not necessarily suggest she is a Buncher.

Perhaps the next time I meet a Buncher, I might not quickly define them as such.  Maybe I’ll look a little deeper. That Buncher just might be the most organized and streamlined person I’ve met. Next to Amy, of course.

What about you? Buncher or Folder?