If so, does that mean people actually remember a persons name & face after only one encounter?!
If not, why do we pretend they will be upset, and try to hide the fact that we forget an unfamiliar name?
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Some people do get upset; some people don’t.
The easily upset don’t—or refuse to—understand that 1) some of us have brains that just don’t remember people’s names very well, and that 2) they should get over themselves.
I would go as far to say that most ‘peoples brains’ dont remember new names well, unless there is a strong emotion tied to the meeting of a new person (hate, fear, infatuation, etc) then its easy to forget what someone said by the time you have made some introductory small talk and moved on to a conversation topic or had to break off the conversation and go elsewhere.
I find i either have to have somebody else say their name a lot for it to stick or i mentally break off from the conversation when i can get away with it and in mind find a way of remembering their name with a trick like associating it with a similar sounding word, or a famous actor with the same/similar name, etc.
me hearing a person’s name once during being introduced
me… minutes later realizing that there is just a blank spot in my memory where there name should be
me… waiting for months hoping that somebody uses their name around me in a context that attaches a name to that person because I’m too much of a coward to ask the person directly
Some do, some don’t. As with any large enough group
I don’t normally get upset if people forget my name. But I did get upset once when I met a guy and he forgot me. I was hanging out with a mutual friend and was quickly introduced to this guy at a bar, then the same mutual friend and I were at the same bar when the next time I saw that guy he forgot he met me already but I shook his hand and reintroduced myself, this happened another time at the same bar which annoyed me but I went through the process, then the next time this happened at the same bar I told him we already met several times and refused to shake his hand because I already had shaken it before. He awkwardly laughed it off as I just stared him down, then he eventually left my friend and I to hang out alone.
Our mutual friend thought that was excessive on my part, but that guy sure as fuck remembered me after that.
If he had forgotten my name, that’s understandable. Totally forgetting me several times, fuck off.
I think most ppl are fine with it if it is only once and you seem genuinely sad about it. I am fine with ppl forgetting we even met I am even playing along pretending it is the first time we meet, so far has it only been ppl I met maybe twice in my life(except one person). I have only met one person who actually got sad when I forgot her name. She asked if I was not as happy as she was to see me… That hurt, I remembered her tho! But not her name.
I think it is worse when I have to introduce myself everytime we meet and it has been over 3 times… One dude he never remembered me until the 5th time then he said "heey we have met before right?! " he even looked genuinely happy and I felt “finally we can stop pretending” but then the next time we met he introduced him self again… I remember you Felix!
People definitely get upset when you use the wrong name. —I don’t
No matter how carefully I say my very simple two syllable English name for people, they call me another variation of it. My asshole MIL has called me by the wrong name for over 25 years on purpose because it’s the kind of thing she likes to do. I give up.
Names are just something I’m not very good at remembering. For that matter, auditory processing in general is a weakness for me. So I’m up front with people, that I am not good with names. Same with difficult to pronounce names, I will ask that they repeat the pronunciation because I want to get it right. I’ve never had anyone be upset.
My name has so many variations that I don’t. But I can understand why others do, they don’t want to be associated with either a more common archetype than they are or a less common one, e.g. I have a friend who goes by Lydia, and when people call her Linda, it feels as if she feels the unique implications of her name challenged.
I usually find it relieving because I don’t remember their name, either.
The trick is to call everyone boss, then you don’t need to remember their name.
It really depends on the context. What was the first encounter? If it was a first date, then yeah, that’s brutal and you suck. If it was a quick intro at a busy event, it’s almost expected.
There’s a bit of a difference between names and faces. Forgetting a name is like forgetting a piece of trivia, but if you meet and speak to somebody and can’t recognize them in a different context (and they look basically the same), it can send a signal that you didn’t find them memorable (and you didn’t lol).
The only time in my life when I found it irritating was my best friend’s roommate who, after hanging out with them in small groups dozens of times for hours each time, still kept introducing herself to me on subsequent visits. I could never figure out if it was drugs, a method of humour or flirting I didn’t understand, or she was really that oblivious to other people.
I was on a third date, and we met an acquaintance of mine. I went to introduce them and blanked. Worse, I went for what I thought I remembered, which ended up close enough to be culturally insensitive. His name was Franz and I said Fritz and he was pretty hurt.
How is that culturally insensitive?
He was Austrian in Germany and those are both very stereotypically Austrian names.
That just seems petty. They both sound like generic German names to me. There even used to be a Kaiser named Fritz. Just recently I was asking someon “was your name James?” reply: “no, Jason”. It was a non-issue
He also had a bit of a chip on his shoulder about it, to be fair.
At work I once told the customer to stop talking during the presentation because I didn’t recognize them as our customer.
I have face blindness. It was an innocent mistake but wow do I regret doing that.
I’d imagine if you literally worked with them, 5 days out of a week… after two weeks, yeah that would be at the very least strange.
I wouldn’t know I forgot what their name was
Oh, you mean…um… whatserface?
In my experience most conversion’s don’t require the use of a name, so it’s not that noticeable if I forget a name.
Yeah. Using people’s names much in conversation just feels like, scummy to me. Like trying to make friends and influence people or whatever
