Let’s be honest. Half the time when we ask someone, “What’s your name?” we’re just being social. It’s one of the few questions that we know we can safely ask any stranger we have nothing to say to, giving us those few precious seconds to desperately try and think of a more interesting topic to bring up…well…that’s what I do anyway.
Sometimes, you just don’t think you’ll ever need to know that person’s name. They’re a stranger to you. You only ask because it’s polite. You ask only because you have nothing else to say to them and sometimes, you don’t even realise that you actually asked them what their name is. It’s kinda like saying “How you doin’!”, you ask only because that’s just what people say to people they don’t know.
Well, there’s all that, but honestly speaking (for men anyway), there’s a very good chance that we were far too busy looking at your boobs to listen to pretty much anything you ever said, let alone your name…sorry, we’re men…we’re awful…I know, I know.
It’s safe to say, we don’t always remember people’s names. It ‘s bad enough to forget the name of a person you met a long time ago, that can happen to anyone. It’s downright shameful to meet someone new. To introduce yourselves to each other and just 3 minutes later be faced with the need to introduce that person to other people.
You find yourself in that position where you start uttering the words “…this is…” you point at your new friend and “…”, you draw a complete blank. You start recalling the entire conversation you had with this person. You remember them say “I’m ¿*”⌐sh“. You now have a clue to what the name is, but you don’t know for sure. Something inside you says “Tash!”, but you’re just not sure if Tash was the last person you met or the other person before that. Tash could be a completely different person.
You’re now faced with a decision; say “…Tash” and risk getting the name completely wrong. Or openly admit to this person that you’re (at that very moment) introducing to other people, that you can’t remember their name. The simple name they literally just told you…shame on you.
Worst of all is when this complete stranger actually had the decency to remember your name and they openly address you by it when they talk to you. They cared enough about who you were to actually remember your name. You didn’t. Then, you’re just the jerk that doesn’t bother remembering people’s names. And how self-absorbed is that?
Forgetting someone’s name (when they literally just told it to you) is…AWKWARD!!