I have a friend who says I can’t go out in public anywhere without meeting someone who knows me. In high school I was the one guy out of 1500 kids in wheelchair. In a situation like that, you are extremely hard to miss. In college there were two or three people on campus in chairs. Once again, all of the other 7000+ students knew who we were, if they didn’t, they weren’t paying attention. Add in the fact that I have a big personality, am open with everyone, and you understand why I have always been a minor celebrity.
To this day my mother will go to the grocery store and run in to someone who says “you’re Jamie’s mom” my mom has really learned how to roll with it, she’s great with people. It’s not a bad thing people remembering you, but every so often I don’t remember them. They come up and say “you’re Jamie. You haven’t changed at all, do you remember me?” Sometimes, I admit that I don’t. Most of the time I ask them what they’re doing, what’s going on in life and do my best to figure it out. I’ve often thought that everyone should wear name tags. The problem there is, most people are like me and have really bad handwriting. I can write something down and have no idea what it says five minutes later. Does anybody else have a problem? We have all gotten so spoiled with computers that no one really has good penmanship anymore.
It’s not so bad unless I call somebody by the wrong name, I hate that. On the other hand, people routinely call me by another name Jimmy, James, it happens a lot. I don’t really get offended by it I just answer to whatever they call me. I know that even though they may not get my name exactly right, they know they’re talking to. The part of the conversation that you have with someone you haven’t seen in a while that bothers me is the “so what are you doing now icebreaker.” People look at you kind of funny when you tell them you are self-employed and work on the Internet. They have kids and lives and whether they’re good or not, people are always ready to tell you what they have been up to.
That’s the key in the conversations for me. Most people just want to talk about what’s going on their lives. So, I do my best to listen and explain how i’m trying to make money writing a blog, without sounding like a loser.(That’s really hard). Normally after seeing someone I haven’t seen you in a while, I’m very thankful for my life, for the way things have turned out. I have to admit, it really is nice to be memorable. The fact that I am makes me think I must be doing something right. At some point, someone is going to invent an app where you can discreetly take a picture of someone’s face as they’re talking to you and the app we will feed you information and remind you who this person is. That’s a scary thought.
What is the most clever way you have figured out who someone is? Gotten a peek at their drivers license? Were they wearing a name tag from work? Let us know in the comments.
This girl named Evie did the art. She’s unforgettable. Give her a round of applause folks.