Archives for December 2009

what’s in a name?

One of the absolutely worst things about me is that I have difficulty remembering names. It’s a horrible place to be, especially if you are at a social function and you somewhat know you’ve met him or her before, yet you can’t recall his or her name to save your life (or face).

I know all the theoretical tricks of memorising names. There was a part about this in one of Dale Carnegie’s books where a dude endeared himself by remembering EVERYONE’s names. He did that by muttering the other person’s name to himself a few times, and/or write down the name followed by an association, e.g. interested in fishing. I’m so terrible at this that I can’t even remember who the dude was.

Trust me, I’ve tried. Unfortunately it’s a bit difficult because sometimes I don’t see the person until a few months later, or even a year or two after our first meeting. By then my memory capacity would have already been loaded and reloaded hundreds of times. See lah, all those vitamin and memory enhancement stuff that you are supposed to eat before your exams in school that your mothers force you to swallow down even though they may taste like the foulest things on earth? My mother never gave me any of that so I’m putting all the blame on her. Makes life easier 😀

So mom, it’s really all your fault that I can’t remember people’s names. Me being overweight? Your fault too! Bwahahahahaha!

Seriously (as if I’m anything but), it takes a few times of meeting up and talking in real life for me to get your name right. I know it’s a disrespectful thing not to know your name and I’m really sorry about it. I’m trying, I’m trying…

Sometimes I try the old trick of trying to get the other person to say his or her name first so I would appear as if I know who they are. It goes like this…

Person A: Hey Suanie how are you?
Me: Hey!! Nice meeting you again!
Person A: Yah bla bla bla yadda yadda…
Me: Oh.. erm, hey have you met So-and-So?
Person A: Hello So-and-So, I am This-and-That.
Me: Yeah I met This-and-That at [insert function name here].

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t especially if Person A does not take the initiative to reveal his or her own name first! Then what do you do? Act dumb la. Don’t tsk me, I’m sure you all have done it before!

I am still reeling from the embarrassment of an incident that happened a couple of months ago. I was at a play and was hanging out with the cast afterwards. One of the cast members came to me and said hi. I know I’ve met her before, I just can’t remember her name! Terrible kan, especially seeing her on stage earlier.

So I tried to zig-zag a bit until she caught me…

Her: You don’t remember me ah Suanie?? I met you with so-and-so at this-and-that! I am [insert her name here].
Me: [red-faced in embarrassment] I know who you are!! Great job with the play!
Her: -_^

Die.