Yeah. Good Times.: An encounter at the bus stop

xmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#' Yeah. Good Times.: An encounter at the bus stop

Monday, August 1, 2011

An encounter at the bus stop

I'm chatty. I'm a very chatty person. No, I'm serious. I know you're shocked by this revelation, but it's true. I chat with people all over the place. You know how when you're waiting in line at the bank and you randomly start joking around with the person in line behind you about how slow the line is moving? That's me; I'm that person behind you. And I'll pull everybody else waiting in the line into the discussion, too. I do this everywhere I go; I'm constantly chatting people up.

I have a really bad memory. Like... REALLY bad. After you and I leave the bank, if I run into you the next day, I will have no idea who you are. You will look very familiar to me, because I remember faces for some reason, but I will have no idea who you are or how I know you. It's not personal; it's not that our encounter didn't make an impact. I remember the funny conversation I had in line at Wells Fargo yesterday, I just don't remember that it's you I had the conversation with.

You can imagine the trouble this might cause me. This isn't a huge town, so the people I meet will inevitably turn up again and again, and for some reason everybody else seems to have a better memory than I do. It's a problem.

Anyway, this past Friday I was picking Child 2 up from camp and I had one such encounter. It was quite typical of how these things generally go for me and I thought you guys might enjoy laughing at and also with me. My internal dialogue is represented below in purple and the always awesome Comic Sans.

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@pugariffic73 · 712 weeks ago

Happens to me ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the time. I wish people wore name tags. Would make my life so much easier. lol

The drawings.. phenomenal!

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Ryan @TWM · 712 weeks ago

This happens to me all. the. time. And I always ending up saying something ridiculous instead of their name like, "Have a great weekend, Sweetie" or "Good to see you, Hon."

Awful.
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Lisa · 712 weeks ago

I know how you feel, I remember faces, but never know who they are and where I saw them, but they sure as shit know me!

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Lizbeth · 712 weeks ago

Are you sure it's not the same lady (I'm using that term loosely here) that stole your parking space the first day of camp??? Gawd I hope not.
Something tells me you have her face seared into your brain though. You know, so you can say "Hi" to her car with your keys. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
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Sharyn · 712 weeks ago

I have many times wished people came with a Times Square type news ticker running across their foreheads that would say things like: "This is who I am and this is how you know me," but stopping short of: "This is what I'm thinking about you at this moment..."

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Cheryl D. · 712 weeks ago

i can relate to this cartoon a little too well. We have something in common Jill--other than both of us being incredibly talented writers blogging about our children with Asperger's.
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Brandon · 712 weeks ago

So... what you're saying is you're really good at faking it (when you have to...)??
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Kelly · 712 weeks ago

Oh yeah. I am so in this canoe club with you. I think this is a side effect of having kids. Seriously. My brain is so chock full of schedules, consistent discipline and teaching stuff, meltdown aversion tactics and other bullshit, that I have literally ZERO room for names. In fact, I call my kids MY siblings' names now, too. "Uh, Alex, I mean Nick (brother), Bill (hubs). I mean TED - get away from there!" By that time, he is long since moved on, of course. :(
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Amy · 712 weeks ago

Yup. That's me every week at church. Every week. I CANNOT remember people's names for the life of me. Even when I see them every week. Love the cartoon!
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Karen · 712 weeks ago

I totally SUCK at names! I have learned to have conversations like this without having to figure out a name many times. It's frustrating though because not knowing that person's name bugs me to no end!!!!!
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Mrs. Jen B · 712 weeks ago

People need to wear name tags. My dad always gets into situations like this - he literally, I swear to god, runs into someone everywhere he goes who will then stop him for conversation. Everywhere. And he's such a good actor. He'll stand there talking for lord only knows how long, while whoever he's there with stands and waits patiently, then he'll come back and say "I have no idea who that was!".
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annabelle · 712 weeks ago

i absolutely could have written this!

i never know HOW i know pepople or what their names are, yet I talk to damn near everyone.

hilarious, glad to know i'm not the only one.

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@roxisbrilliant · 712 weeks ago

Wouldn't it be totally funny if I told you that was ME you were talking to?

But it totally wasn't.

I only have one kid.

And he doesn't go to camp.

And I'm pretty sure we don't live in the same city.

Still, would have been funny.
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1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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jillsmo 103p · 712 weeks ago

That would have been SO funny :|

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Kev D. · 712 weeks ago

MULVA.
My recent post Survival Horror.

1 reply · active 712 weeks ago

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jillsmo 103p · 712 weeks ago

MULVA!!!!!!!!!!! I TOTALLY get that reference!

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XLMIC · 712 weeks ago

Rox IS brilliant... I was just going to do that... cuz I totally could have pulled it off :)

I'm way chatty too... it kind of puts people off :P And I have that same forgetting problem.
My recent post Obliviously Spectating at the 2011 San Francisco Marathon

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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jillsmo 103p · 712 weeks ago

OH GOD I'm so glad you didn't try that.....

I would have said "UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

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LLA_Princess 66p · 712 weeks ago

That is so me I am terrible with names, and well everything important you need to remember

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SweetyinaBikini · 712 weeks ago

You are hilarious and I love your blog!
My recent post Mistaken Identity

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theresahughes 73p · 712 weeks ago

Ha ha, I hate it when that happens! Someone told me a trick once, where if you can't remember their name you just kick them in the shin, Works every time!
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mylifewrite 23p · 712 weeks ago

I am this same chatty person! We should totally run into each other somewhere. We would rock the house...or the bank...or bus stop. Whatevs.

The difference is, I don't ever see the same people twice and THANK GOD because this blog, right here, would be my exact same dilemma.
My recent post I Want, I Want, I Want

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thypolarlife 12p · 712 weeks ago

I have a better memory than the husband does but this has still happened to me quite a few times. The hubby can't remember shit, ever. I'm waiting for the day he gets us into a heap of trouble because he said something he can't remember to someone he can't remember and he can't remember where he was when he ran into them. Trust me.... it will happen.

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Cactusinyrpants 59p · 712 weeks ago

We are alike you and I... who are you again?

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Amanda · 712 weeks ago

This is where I'm like my Aspie kid. I will meet you once, and forever remember your face, name, and life story that you told me when we met (why do people do that with the life story?). Just don't ask me what I had for breakfast.
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@eldergeek · 712 weeks ago

I've been banging on my guitar in beer joints all over central Texas for over 20 years now. I constantly run into people who call me by name and I don't have the faintest notion who they are. Usually, having a reputation for being horribly absent minded, I just own up to being an ignorant slob and beg their pardon but that doesn't make it any easier or less embarrassing. :(

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chosenchaos 93p · 712 weeks ago

I just assume everyone knows me through my mother and somehow throw her name in the mix, just in case. 8 out of 10 times that works. So funny. http://chosenchaos.blogspot.com/

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@MamaRiceCake · 712 weeks ago

This happens to me a LOT too! I also forget the names of people that I've known in passing (IE the names of some of the parents of kids in my children's classes) when more than a few months has passed. That means, that come Meet The Teacher day at school in a couple weeks... I will be drawing a blank at the names of women that I only see 4 or 5 times a year for class parties... AGAIN!__Also, "Mulva"... seriously hilarious. That's LITERALLY what I think when I can't remember someone's name... which of course, makes me laugh at inappropriate moments for a reason that I can't TELL the person I'm talking to! Sheesh!
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Grace · 712 weeks ago

I avoid people at all cost, so I rarely have this problem. See? There are real benefits to being anti-social.

And I just peed a little at MULVA.
My recent post It’s Not Drama, It’s Reality

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blogginglily 73p · 701 weeks ago

that's excellent. I suffer from that too. A lot.

Hi Jim!
Hey. . . you! (whew. . . dodged a bullet there)

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