No, dammit, I don’t recognize you! April 7, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , trackbackAs I walked into a bar last Friday, I heard a woman’s voice behind me. “Niels?” I had no idea whether she recognized me from TV or whether we’d actually met. As a result of my faceblindness, the fact that I don’t recognize someone isn’t any kind of indicator of whether or not we’ve met.
“You don’t recognize me?!” she asked. Ah, apparently I do know her. And I noticed she had a distinctive mole on her face - I remembered the mole, so I definitely had met her before, I just couldn’t place where.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I forgot your name.”
“I can’t believe you don’t remember me!” she said. Uh-oh. It seems that I must know her pretty well. Did we hook up? That would be embarrassing.
“Where did we see each other last?” I tried.
“You really don’t remember me?! Come find me when you remember who I am!” she told me as she walked off. Aargh. It’s like asking a blind man to find you when he realizes how many fingers you were holding up. Fortunately, she made a joke about “sexy furniture” as she walked off, and I remembered the inside joke from a potluck the last week. I’d met her twice in the past two weeks with lengthy conversations both times.
The night wasn’t over, either. Sure enough, as I walked into the next bar… “Niels!”
Sure enough, another girl I didn’t recognize.
“We took a photo together… It was Halloween…”
I eventually figured it out, but it’s a rough existence. I wonder how many people I unintentionally snub each time I go out. If you’re one of them, you have my most sincere apologies, that was not my intention.
Comments»
Oh man, that must be frustrating, not remembering people you’ve “met” before, even if it was for a little while. I have a terrible memory, so that happens to me a lot.
I remember them, I just don’t RECOGNIZE them. Once they tell me who they are, I remember our interaction. But yes, incredibly frustrating.
Ah, I see. Well, that’s still equally frustrating.
By the way, do random people approach you a lot? (since you were on Beauty and the Geek and all.)
yes
Haha, is it really weird for you? Or have you gotten used to it?