Recognising people and what they look like

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I do not understand how people know what another person looks like. I hate it when I am asked, what do they look like, etc. I hate it when people say hello to me, as though I should recognise them. I have learnt over the years to look people in the eyes, but the fact is I don't because I look right through people. I could not tell you what the people I know best look like, I would struggle to even tell you their hair colour. And then they say that because I learnt to look people in the eyes I am cured and somehow high functioning, when the fact is I simply learnt to look right through people.

I often look through people, I have been asked whether it was the one with glasses and I hadn't even notcied that either one was wearing glasses. I have not noticed skin colour, hair colour etc.

I see people and know I recognise them but if they aren't where they are supposed to be then I often stare at them wondering who they are and where I know them from and whether I know them well enough to acknowledge them or whether I am supposed to go and have a conversation or just walk past.

I am horrible at remembering what people look like. I might meet you and then not remember what you look like so I might not be able to recognize you next time.

I also once knew a guy who was overweight and he had long hair and a long beard. Then one day I was at a group at a pizza place and I was talking to this guy and there I was talking about this other group this guy ran and then he got married and moved out and doesn't run the group anymore, he quit. Then it turned out the man I was talking about was the guy I was talking too about. What made me figure it out was someone said his name and then it clicked and I realized it was him. Reason why I didn't recognize him was because he had his hair cut and he had shaved. He looked younger than older.

I would be a horrible eye witness too.

I am really poor at recognizing faces. They just don't register with me. I have to meet someone two or three times before I reach the point that I can recognize them. If I have only seen their face from the front, I have a hard time recognizing them from another angle.

Haha I've done this sort of thing on several occasions. Funny how people will take it personally that you don't recognize them and suddenly you're in a position where you have to apologize. For what?? I'm supposed to remember what you look like just because you remember what I look like? I've gotten into the habit of explaining that not everyone is wired the same. Some people remember faces, some remember passwords (I can often remember very complex passwords that I see or hear only once).

This forum is really a lot of fun for me. I keep reading and reading and saying, "Oh yeah! Ah! Hahahaha! Yeah!"

I ran into three people this week who I had spend a lot of time with in the past and knew well and did not recognize ANY of them.

I hate when I'm asked what people look like! I hope I never have to identify a criminal. Once I had an issue with a TSA agent and another one helped me and asked me which one it was who caused me problems. And I could not even tell him the race of this person. I only knew it was a woman.

I'm not good at remembering how people look either. I do recognize people when I meet them if I meet them regularly (such as close family, colleagues and such), but I don't recognize people who I rarely meet or who I haven't met for long. If asked to describe the way someone looks, I usually can't. I don't notice people's hair color or style for example, or their body build (fat, skinny, muscular etc.), even if I spend a lot of time with them. If I met someone briefly and had to describe them 5 minutes later I couldn't possibly give any useful information about age, hair, clothes, body shape, eyes etc. that most people could probably describe.

I tend to recognize people by their voice more than appearance.

i misstake one for another, call them the wrong name and they ether laugh or get mad.
there's little i can do so there's no point letting it bother me, though when i've been with them one any level
they get weird

I can not forget a face of someone I have met in real life. It could be 10yrs down the track they may have shaved their hair, got glasses, got fat, whatever, there they are and I can see it.
But I have great trouble with names.

Actually the guy wasn't offended at all. He thought it was funny. I asked him why didn't he say he was him and he said he wanted to see how long it take for me to recognize him.

In fact I was at Wal Mart last week and I ran into someone I knew. She looked familiar but I couldn't remember from where. I asked her if she worked at the hotel and she said no. I asked her where do I know her from and she said "from work." I tried asking her where does she work at and then I asked her if she works at the building close to the mall and she said yeah. I hope she wasn't offended. I saw her everyday at work when I was working and I couldn't even remember where I recognized her from.

Totally where I am coming from, and nice to know I am not alone. I cannot tell you what people close to me look like, and as for eye colour, you mean eyes have colour??? When I have known people for a while, and I mean people I see on a weekly basis I can usually say what shape they are, ie, fat if they really are obese or thin if they really are on the verge of anorexia, but other than that no ideam of height, hair colour, etc, etc. . If I see people I see on a regular basis I will recognise them, but I could not a second later tell you what they looked liked, even if I had been speaking to them for the last hour or two, face to face!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!

I hate this. I see someone. I know that I see them very regularly. I just have no idea where I know them from. It is not like I do a lot of socializing. There are really only a few possible places. Still, I cannot identify them. Why is it so difficult? It seems like it should be so easy. It's like the universe is having a laugh at my expense.

I can't recognize anybody for anything, except for my wife, of course . I hate it too, when somebody says hi to me, and I haven't the foggiest clue if, or if so when, I've seen them before! It's embarrassing and very bad for business.

I don't even recognize big celebrities. I rode an elevator with Madonna (when she was super-popular in the 80s), and had no clue 'til I got off the elevator and people saw her in there, and asked me if I talked to her. I also sat at a charity football game talking with Melissa Gilbert for a good 30 minutes, and hadn't a clue. I think that's the only reason why she was talking with me... 'cause it made her feel normal for a change not being recognized as a star.

Charles

When I was younger, right before graduation, we had all students in town, put in one yearbook at the end of the year, categorized by school and all together there were 13 schools.After looking through that and going to the mall for example, I could spot someone and say that persons name and what school he/she went to,
BUT
If I was meeting someone new in real life, no matter how cute, interesting or important to me, after the event, I could not remember his/her face at all.Id have to see them another 3-4 times before the memory of their face stuck with me.

Today its a little better but not great.

I'm able to remember and identify people quite well in any environment, except for people I've only met once, briefly. I also have an odd talent for being able to hear someone's voice and guess with relative accuracy what they look like, even without ever seeing them either in person or in a photo (it doesn't work quite as well for voice actors and some foreign languages, though).