I have sometimes contemplated taking out my frustrations by following people around to learn their names, scrounging up any background material on them that I can get, and then pretending to be an old high school acquaintance of theirs, and watching them squirm as they try to remember me.
I’m not entirely certain people aren’t already doing this to me.
In general, I avoid claiming to actually remember people if I don’t, but I’m happy to engage with them as though we were old friends if they are engaging with me that way. If it turns out that we don’t know each other, well, I’ve been friendlier than our relationship obligated me to be, which is not a big problem.
Me too; nothing wrong with it and some people will be positively impressed with how friendly you are even to people you barely know! Also, being straightforward and not embarrassed to ask someone’s name again helps. A simple “I’m sorry, but I’ve completely forgotten your name; could you remind me?” is usually not too awkward unless you’ve met often enough that you should be expected to remember.
(Also, I am in DC, which is a very business card-exchanging area; remembering getting the card and seeing the name after being introduced is very helpful.)
I’ve started some great friendships by doing just this. Don’t just pretend to run into an acquaintance. Pretend that you just ran into your old best friend X (X is totally awesome BTW, it’s been way too long since you’ve seen them, and OMG do you remember when X did Y? It was so cool).
Requirements: an upstanding and respected mutual friend, an endorsement that a prank will be well received, and a victim with a sense of humor.
Thirding the request.
I have sometimes contemplated taking out my frustrations by following people around to learn their names, scrounging up any background material on them that I can get, and then pretending to be an old high school acquaintance of theirs, and watching them squirm as they try to remember me.
I’m not entirely certain people aren’t already doing this to me.
People have done this to me. I was amused.
In general, I avoid claiming to actually remember people if I don’t, but I’m happy to engage with them as though we were old friends if they are engaging with me that way. If it turns out that we don’t know each other, well, I’ve been friendlier than our relationship obligated me to be, which is not a big problem.
Me too; nothing wrong with it and some people will be positively impressed with how friendly you are even to people you barely know! Also, being straightforward and not embarrassed to ask someone’s name again helps. A simple “I’m sorry, but I’ve completely forgotten your name; could you remind me?” is usually not too awkward unless you’ve met often enough that you should be expected to remember.
(Also, I am in DC, which is a very business card-exchanging area; remembering getting the card and seeing the name after being introduced is very helpful.)
I’ve started some great friendships by doing just this. Don’t just pretend to run into an acquaintance. Pretend that you just ran into your old best friend X (X is totally awesome BTW, it’s been way too long since you’ve seen them, and OMG do you remember when X did Y? It was so cool).
Requirements: an upstanding and respected mutual friend, an endorsement that a prank will be well received, and a victim with a sense of humor.