Can't think of a persons name, what do you do?

Rocker

Bluff it and hope you soon remember the name of the person talking to you, with whom you worked with several years ago. Or admit that you are poor at remembering names but good at remembering faces. Or wing it by saying it is Terry, am I right?

I usually go for the second but occasionally the first.

Which is your default choice?

Nikko

Buddy, fella, mate...

ESBlonde

There is an old Salesmans trick, you say 'sorry I can't remember your name' and if they say "Bert" you say "I know it's Bert it was your second name I was struggling with" and it they say 'Smith', you say "I know it's Smith it was your first name" etc... that way you appear to have not forgotten them (ultimate shame).

Also it helps to repeat the persons name to reinforce the memory when first introduced so:
Good afternoon this is/my names Desmond Brown.
Hello Mr Brown nice to meet you, do you mind if I call you Desmond. Fine Desmond welcome to....It's a lovely afternoon isn't it Desmond.

I personally have the biggest problem when I see people out of context, work collegues you might see every month at a meeting that you then bump into in the DIY store and they are dressed different/casual and might have wife and family in tow.

Grunfeld

Rocker said:

Which is your default choice?

Not recognising someone is part of my everyday life because I can't remember faces.   It's worst with patients because of the infrequency of my contact with them and numbers of them I see.  I can't be arsed with embarrassment and just say "Hello" and ask them who they are.  It can still go wrong:  yesterday I took the wrong Mr Singh out of the waiting room, but at least I sussed it before getting down to treatment.

DesVegas

I usually go through the alphabet, so if it's a guy I'd say "is your name Adam?... Billy? Cuthbert" etc .. i usually find by the time i'm at Vector they have told me job done.

snakemanStoo

Now I'm a bit more settled in my skin than I was when I was but a mere whippersnapper I just say "I've forgotten your name. Can you remind me please?"

Works really well.

fretmeister

I expect my butler to remind me.

bingefeller

I just say to them "What's your name again?"   Pretty simple solution instead of arsing about and sounding like an idiot, trying to find different ways you can avoid using their name.  

octatonic

fretmeister said:

I expect my butler to remind me.

Do you know his name?

mudslide73

Fr. Andy Riley,

Fr. Desmond Coyle,

Fr. George Byrne,

Fr. David Nicholson,

Fr. Declan Lynch,

Fr. Ken Sweeney,

Fr. Neil Hannon,

Fr. Keith Cullen,

Fr. Ciaran Donnelly,

Fr. Mick McEvoy,

Fr. Jack White,

Fr. Henry Bigbigging,

Fr. Hank Tree,

Fr. Hiroshima Twinkie

Fr. Stig Bubblecard,

Fr. Johnny Hellzapoppin’ ,

Fr. Luke Duke,

Fr. Billy Ferry,

Fr. Chewy Louie,

Fr. John Hoop,

Fr. Hairycake Linehan,

Fr. Rebulah Conundrum,

Fr. Peewee Stairmaster,

Fr. Jemima Racktool,

Fr. Jerry Twig,

Fr. Spodo Komodo,

Fr. Cannabranna Lammer.

Fr. Todd Unctious

YES!


DesVegas said:

I usually go through the alphabet, so if it's a guy I'd say "is your name Adam?... Billy? Cuthbert" etc .. i usually find by the time i'm at Vector they have told me job done.

merlin

"You were one of the best shags I ever had, so good in fact that you completely shagged my brains out. What was your name again?"

thecolourbox

merlin said:

"You were one of the best shags I ever had, so good in fact that you completely shagged my brains out. What was your name again?"

"Roger"

CHRISB50

Ask them!?

Sporky

merlin said:

"You were one of the best shags I ever had, so good in fact that you completely shagged my brains out. What was your name again?"

"Dad"

fretmeister

octatonic said:

fretmeister said:

I expect my butler to remind me.

Do you know his name?

"My good man"

octatonic

A good escape route can be to introduce a 3rd person to the person whose name you cannot remember saying 'you guys know each other don't you' when you know you don't.

Then they introduce themselves to each other and you can say 'oh sorry, I thought you knew one another', thereby hiding your actual mistake in a less significant one.

DesVegas

Father Ted for the win mudslide

Sporky

I think most people understand that I'm too important to remember that sort of triviality.

bingefeller

Sporky said:

merlin said:

"You were one of the best shags I ever had, so good in fact that you completely shagged my brains out. What was your name again?"

"Dad"

LoFi

Sporky said:

I think most people understand that I'm too important to remember that sort of triviality.

Quite - that's what we have salesmen for.

monquixote

fretmeister said:

I expect my butler to remind me.

I know someone who was a PA to a very famous captain of industry and that was a substantial part of her job.

If he was going to a party she would have to get the guest list and learn the biography of anyone important.