The Pitters' Place

Forgetting who people are, yeah I just don't see the downside there.

So I was at Huck's this morning. That's a 7-11 type convenience store if you happen to not know that already. On my way out this woman stopped me and started talking to me and I have no clue who she was. She started mentioning things from when I was a teenager and I'm thinking the whole time "Who the hell are you and why are you talking to me?" Then she sort of giggled and said "Do you still smoke weed." and then my paranoia kicked in and I started thinking she might be an undercover cop so I said "No, I gave that up years ago." So she said "I bet that wasn't easy, you used to love smoking that stuff so much you wouldn't even share a joint and would always tell everybody else to roll their own." "Yeah, well times change and we grow up." She said she was just passing through and had talked to my older sister earlier and was sorry to hear about my dad and brother dying. So I said "Thank you" and she walked on inside and I went to my truck and drove home and I still have no idea who I was talking to and I don't even care.

But it did remind me of a similar incident at my dad's funeral when I had almost the same conversation with another woman, and it was definitely a different woman. So we're exchanging all these pleasantries standing by the casket and the whole time I'm wondering who the hell this woman is and if she knows my family so damn well then why am I the one she singled out to talk to. She finally walked away and I looked at my cousin who was standing near me and our conversation went something like this:

"Who was that?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"That woman who was just standing here talking to me, who is she?"

"Are you feeling okay? I think the stress might be getting to you. Maybe you should go home and rest awhile?"

"What part of that was an answer to my damn question? Who was that woman I was just talking to?"

"That was Marlena Reynolds, you dated her for six months when we were in High School. I'm the one who set the two of you up because she was one of my friends"

"Oh, okay."

"You still don't remember her, do you?"

"That was 33 years ago. Do you remember everybody you knew 33 years ago?"

"I remember them if I dated them for six months."

"Well that's part of your problem, you live in the past."

So my cousin got all pissed off and walked away which was probably a good thing because I'm still not sure which cousin she was.

Nice story. Also, welcome to the board! Always nice to see new faces.

I once had an awkward encounter when I ran into an acquaintance I had known in high school. She began speaking to me like she knew me, but I couldn't remember who she was. I eventually told her I that I couldn't remember who she was, and then I suddenly remembered moments later. And because it was so awkward by that point, I decided to pretend I didn't know who she was for the remainder of of the conversation, 'cause I just wanted to get out of the situation. Terrible.

My memory is so comprehensively fucked - I think it's a CFS thing because my mother's memory is just as bad if not worse - that I could not tell you what I did last week, or even yesterday, let alone from years ago. It's only been 12 years since I left school and yet when I started my new job last autumn, it turned out that one of the IT guys was in my year at school. He recognised me on sight and remembered who my best friend at school was and I was like 'Yes, it is very good to see you... guy'. I vaguely recognised him after he reminded me of his name but I could not tell you how we knew each other. I don't think we were in the same set? I don't think he was in my tutor group? I don't know. My dad routinely talks about stuff from my childhood that I don't remember at all. It is a running joke with my sister that my memory is exactly this, as I can sometimes recall really petty details but nothing else:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLVrNht9q_0

I wouldn't worry about it. I've had that for years.

We'll be out shopping and some random woman will start talking to me asking how we're getting on and be (frankly) overly familiar. I grunt back answers and afterwards I get told off by the wife for being rude to our neighbour. How the hell am I meant to remember that she lives next door to us?

The wife reckons that I just don't bother remembering people that I deem to be unimportant to me.

I don't bother remembering people, or things, that I deem unimportant. I get that lots of people like to collect acquaintances and make hundreds of friends, but I don't have time for that shit. My family are always going on about stuff that happened to me when I was a kid, and I barely remember any of it. I think it might partly be because my brother and granddad died within 2 years of one another when I was 7/9, so perhaps I've kinda just blocked out whole chunks of traumatic memory...or maybe my childhood just isn't as important to me as it is to other people

I don't remember people I was introduced to a couple months ago. I have strong apathy concerning other people and I pretty much forget they exist the moment they drop off my radar.