I hate intended ingorance.
There is no greater form of flattery than remembering the details of other's lives. So why are people so insistant on being ignorant of the those around them?
Picture the scene:
You meet this young man at a luncheon at a conference. You begin talking and have a conversation about yourselves. You tell him that you are a phd student in chemical engineering at Penn State, but you are originally from Colorado. He tells you he is a professor at Carnegie Melon in Pittsburgh, but he is orginally from El Paso, Texas. You have never been to Texas, he has never been to Colorado. You have a great conversation about your home states and then split for the next seminar. Then you don't see him for 3 years.
After 3 years you meet randomly at a seminar in Cleveland. You recognize his face, but his name does not pop into your head. You remember his field, and that he is from Pittsburgh. He approaches you with a friendly smile, and says "hi, you remember me? you remember my name?" Your mind starts racing. Is his name Tim or Tom or Bill or Frank? You take a wild guess and say "Andrew, right?" His face beams and he says "yes!"
What do you feel at this moment? Happy, like a little kid? Like you just made him happy, and it made you feel good. It was a lucky guess, true, but it resulted in such a smile on his face! You try and recall other facts about him, but nothing really comes to mind. Something about working at Pitt, or was it Carnegie? Was he in CS there or was he a doctor? You really couldn't remember.
The scene continues:
He says, "your name is Ashley, right? From Colorado? Did you ever end up getting your PhD?"
You are astounded. How did he remember!?!? You feel bad cause you don't remember as many details about him as he does of you. But you are flattered because he remembered so much about you.
Knowing this, why do people feel so embarassed to tell others they remember details about them? In most cases, this is at least a good conversational starter.
I just don't understand why people are so insistant upon not remembering. It annoys me.
Sigh. This isn't well written, but I hope you get the point. Maybe I'll rewrite this later.
Picture the scene:
You meet this young man at a luncheon at a conference. You begin talking and have a conversation about yourselves. You tell him that you are a phd student in chemical engineering at Penn State, but you are originally from Colorado. He tells you he is a professor at Carnegie Melon in Pittsburgh, but he is orginally from El Paso, Texas. You have never been to Texas, he has never been to Colorado. You have a great conversation about your home states and then split for the next seminar. Then you don't see him for 3 years.
After 3 years you meet randomly at a seminar in Cleveland. You recognize his face, but his name does not pop into your head. You remember his field, and that he is from Pittsburgh. He approaches you with a friendly smile, and says "hi, you remember me? you remember my name?" Your mind starts racing. Is his name Tim or Tom or Bill or Frank? You take a wild guess and say "Andrew, right?" His face beams and he says "yes!"
What do you feel at this moment? Happy, like a little kid? Like you just made him happy, and it made you feel good. It was a lucky guess, true, but it resulted in such a smile on his face! You try and recall other facts about him, but nothing really comes to mind. Something about working at Pitt, or was it Carnegie? Was he in CS there or was he a doctor? You really couldn't remember.
The scene continues:
He says, "your name is Ashley, right? From Colorado? Did you ever end up getting your PhD?"
You are astounded. How did he remember!?!? You feel bad cause you don't remember as many details about him as he does of you. But you are flattered because he remembered so much about you.
Knowing this, why do people feel so embarassed to tell others they remember details about them? In most cases, this is at least a good conversational starter.
I just don't understand why people are so insistant upon not remembering. It annoys me.
Sigh. This isn't well written, but I hope you get the point. Maybe I'll rewrite this later.