Advice Part 10- Remembering People's Names

If there is one thing I am ABSOLUTELY hopeless at (and, let me assure you, I'm pretty bad at A LOT of things), it is remembering people's names.

 

The cliché "in one ear and out the other" could best describe my inability in this area.

 

My advice to young players is- when being introduced to someone, it is generally a good idea to pay SOME attention to their name, or you may face embarrassing consequences later.

 

Here is a VERY recent example from my life.....

 

Last week, I was bored at work (surprise, surprise), and decided to fetch myself a cup of tea. At the sink, I ran into a lady I'd never met before, and we introduced ourselves. All was fine and dandy.

 

But when I got back to my desk a minute later, I had NO IDEA what her name was. Like Harry Houdini, this vital piece of information had mysteriously vanished....

 

 

 

 

So, using my guile,

• I tried to find her on the internal email list. Not there.
• I asked a colleague if they knew her name. They didn't.
• I loitered around her desk, desperately hoping to see some identifying document. Nil. Nothing. Zero.

 

BUT this situation isn't as bad as one I experienced at uni, when we were forced to do one of those "introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you" exercises.

I started chatting away to the girl beside me, and when it came time to introduce our partner to the group, I proudly announced "This is Bernadette."

Big pause. VERY big pause.

And then she quietly said, "Err, no, sorry. My name's Alison."

Bloody. Hell. I mean, it might be understandable confusing Alison with Alice or Alyse. But BERNADETTE?

Needless to say, we did not become friends. And my memory has not improved.