Have you ever been out somewhere and a person comes up to you and says hello and calls you by name and you can’t begin to think of that persons name?
My parents are notorious about asking me “who is that?”. Many times now I say to them before they have the chance “I don’t know who that is”.
I am so embarrassed that I can’t remember peoples names.
My excuse has been for years is that I work with a headset and computer in front of me and I can’t remember anything unless I have my computer in my face. Yes, computers/databases have made me lazy when it comes to truly memorizing peoples names.
Last night while shopping at the big box store it happened to me twice.
At first I just acted like I knew the person (which I actually did) and tried to play it off. I thought for a brief second and thought to myself –how fake! either you know the person or you don’t.
The way I handled the situation was to genuinely say “I’m embarrassed, but I can’t think of your name”. I did that and felt much better.
People are so important to me and my family. We love people and our relationships with various people.
One thing I am going to make a conscious effort to do is when I am in that situation to ASK their name and make another conscious effort to remember it.
What do you do when you can’t think of someone’s name and they know you?
Becky Durham says
That’s tricky! It really just depends.
Jason never introduces me to anyone when we’re out and he runs into someone he knows. I used to think he was rude, but then I realized he doesn’t remember names. So now I say, “Hi I’m Becky! Jason never introduces me to anyone!” Then they usually introduce themselves.
kristin says
When working at a customer service desk for an insurance company, I saw so many faces on a daily basis that remembering everyone’s name became a difficult task. After awhile, I just couldn’t keep up.
One tactic I used was to create some small talk and then casually ask for them to remind me how to spell their last name, in order to access their account. (I always did remember the customer,of course. Just not their name.)
The last time I used this method was when the response was ” S-M-I-T-H”!
From then on I went the honest route…and just asked.
Nibby Priest says
Check out the NEW iPhone application called "Learn That Name" I just downloaded and this is a great tool for me to use to learn and remember other peoples names! Only query's my LinkedIn profile presently. See http://www.learnthatname.com/