They probably don’t remember your name

Kevin Kelly’s book “Excellent Advice for Living” gives a lot of small pieces of advice, and I really liked this one:

Assume no one remembers names. As a courtesy reintroduce yourself by name even to those you have previously met: “Hi, I’m Kevin.”

I like to take it from both sides.

First, as you may know, I work very hard to try to remember people’s names. I fail often, but I do my best to remember the names of most everyone I meet.

On the other hand, I don’t want to put people on the spot. If I wait a few seconds for them to fail to remember my name, their embarrassment has already begun to set in. Simply stating my name when I greet them makes it irrelevant if they know my name or not.

In most areas of life, you’re well-served to work hard on both sides — do what you can to make life better for others, but show grace when others aren’t always able to do the same for you.