Name blindness always getting in the way of meeting new peop

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Noca
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09 Feb 2020, 1:41 am

I cannot remember the vast majority of names of the people I meet. It is so fricken difficult! They tell me and I immediately forget them. My brain is broken. They must think I'm an a**hole for not knowing their names after telling me again and again. I would need to take a photo of them and write their name down next to it but somehow I don't think that would be appropriate. It makes it really hard to meet new people. :|



Teach51
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09 Feb 2020, 5:46 am

Noca wrote:
I cannot remember the vast majority of names of the people I meet. It is so fricken difficult! They tell me and I immediately forget them. My brain is broken. They must think I'm an as*hole for not knowing their names after telling me again and again. I would need to take a photo of them and write their name down next to it but somehow I don't think that would be appropriate. It makes it really hard to meet new people. :|


Have you ever tried saying to someone " I really like you, I have this neurological condition that prevents me from remembering names, could you remind me your name next time we meet? That would help me a lot."

Would that make you vulnerable?


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quite an extreme
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09 Feb 2020, 7:56 am

I'm anything but good at remembering names as well. But I remember stuff only that I'm interested in and I'm not really interested in the names of uninteresting people. May be that's your problem too.
Mostly I say something like: 'Sorry but I really suck at remembering the names of people - what's you name again?'


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blazingstar
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09 Feb 2020, 8:06 am

I started doing something I've seen sales people do, I use their name as frequently as possible during the initial conversation. Good to meet you, John. John, what interests you? John, that is very interesting. Etc.

And if I forget during that initial encounter, I can ask to be reminded and excuse my poor memory.

It's not perfect. But it helps.


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JohnInWales
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09 Feb 2020, 8:51 am

I don't remember people's names when I first meet them, and I think I gave up trying to a long time ago because I know it doesn't work. But I almost never refer to anyone by their name anyway, unless I need to get their attention in a group, and even then I'm good enough at eye contact that I can often do it that way, eventually. It feels unnatural to call someone by their name. In a one to one discussion, using a person's user ID is illogical, as they know who they are, we've already made a connection, and if I can't remember their name it makes things uncomfortable. I find anyone who constantly uses my name very irritating. Why do it, as I already know who I am, and that they're talking to me!



Noca
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09 Feb 2020, 3:55 pm

Teach51 wrote:
Noca wrote:
I cannot remember the vast majority of names of the people I meet. It is so fricken difficult! They tell me and I immediately forget them. My brain is broken. They must think I'm an as*hole for not knowing their names after telling me again and again. I would need to take a photo of them and write their name down next to it but somehow I don't think that would be appropriate. It makes it really hard to meet new people. :|


Have you ever tried saying to someone " I really like you, I have this neurological condition that prevents me from remembering names, could you remind me your name next time we meet? That would help me a lot."

Would that make you vulnerable?

I tell them I have great difficulty remembering names, but I guess I could say that its neurological, maybe they would understand. I don't know that they think I'm an a**hole, that's mind reading, a cognitive distortion(CBT), it's just I feel that way.



quite an extreme
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10 Feb 2020, 6:23 pm

Noca wrote:
I tell them I have great difficulty remembering names, but I guess I could say that its neurological, maybe they would understand.

Don't tell it's neurological. Just tell that you have problems to remember names. You are not the only one on earth who has this problem and most people just accept it. Not everybody is good at this. For most people it's not a real problem. It's just a personal trait.


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