Identity Crisis
This morning, as I was walking up to the doors at work, a customer was walking out. "Hey! How's it going!", he said to me, very enthusiastically. I had no idea who this guy was. I hate when that happens. A description of the scene- I had my knit cap on down to my eyebrows and a scarf up to my chin, so only a little of my face was showing. Here's the conversation that ensued:
Me: It's goin' great! How're you? [who're you?]
Dude: Good, good. So, whatcha doing these days? [still no clue who he is]
Me: Oh, I work here assembling stuff. You know, furniture, lawn equipment, that sorta stuff. What're you up to? [maybe I used to work with him...?]
Dude: Still at Hobart Brothers. [holy shit, he thinks I'm somebody he used to work with] Mary's still at home, but Eddie started his own business.
Me: [slight panic, gonna have to run with this] Eddie? Good for him!
Dude: So, how's your mother doing?
Me: Oh, she's doing much better, thank you.
Dude: That's a relief! [with my luck, the mom in question probably died]
Me: [fishing for a way out] Hey, I really hate to cut this short, but they count to the minute when I clock in, I gotta go.
Dude: Hey, don't wanna make you late. Great seeing you again! Say hi to Tina for me.
Me: Will do! See ya!
I didn't know what to do! I didn't have the heart to embarrass him to his face, especially since he was so happy to see me. Poor guy, somewhere down the line he's going to realize I'm not who he thought I was and he's going to feel like a complete idiot.
Me: It's goin' great! How're you? [who're you?]
Dude: Good, good. So, whatcha doing these days? [still no clue who he is]
Me: Oh, I work here assembling stuff. You know, furniture, lawn equipment, that sorta stuff. What're you up to? [maybe I used to work with him...?]
Dude: Still at Hobart Brothers. [holy shit, he thinks I'm somebody he used to work with] Mary's still at home, but Eddie started his own business.
Me: [slight panic, gonna have to run with this] Eddie? Good for him!
Dude: So, how's your mother doing?
Me: Oh, she's doing much better, thank you.
Dude: That's a relief! [with my luck, the mom in question probably died]
Me: [fishing for a way out] Hey, I really hate to cut this short, but they count to the minute when I clock in, I gotta go.
Dude: Hey, don't wanna make you late. Great seeing you again! Say hi to Tina for me.
Me: Will do! See ya!
I didn't know what to do! I didn't have the heart to embarrass him to his face, especially since he was so happy to see me. Poor guy, somewhere down the line he's going to realize I'm not who he thought I was and he's going to feel like a complete idiot.
posted by Grover at 12/21/2004 11:17:00 AM
2 Comments:
This sort of thing happens with disturbing frequency. Usually it goes, "Hey, did you go to [whatever] High School?" "No, I went to Troy" "You got family in [whatever nearby podunk town]?" "No, just here and some in Dayton." "Oh, well I'm sorry, you looked really familiar." "No problem, I get that alot."
I've never had to wing it like I did today. Eek!
I would never manage to wing something like that, I'd die of embarrassment. My face memory is pretty good, so I don't often misrecognise people, and my appearence is, err, how shall I put it, distinctive. People don't often stop me to say "hey you look like .." unless they terminate with an expletive or "a fraggle".
Mind you, the downside of being easily identifiable is that loads of people know me, even when I don't know them, and I know loads of people. Some girl today on my bus was trying to get her boyfriend (?) to stop mucking about as she was saying she knew me and that it wasn't advisable to muck about near me....
WTH? She was like 10 years younger than me and I don't think I know her... Must have a reputation as some sort of vigilante, quite possible actually... weirdo's everywhere.
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