Pick list width changes by itself...why?

[Joe M.]

I have some columns with the width 4. Sometimes the validation pick list is
wide like 40 and sometimes it is only as wide as the column. I already know
there's code to temp make the column wider when you click on it. But this
behaviour of the pick list sometimes appearing much wider than the column
makes me think there's something influencing the width of the pick list
itself. Is there some way to control the width of the pick list without
changing the width of the column or is what I'm seeing occur just an Excel
bug?

Thanks,
Joe M.