Taking A Stand: The stories start to blend together
Time sure does fly. This month marks the beginning of my 14th year with the Southern Standard, the place where I’ve worked almost my entire post-college life.
During this nearly decade and a half, I’ve worked literally thousands of stories involving stuff ranging from feel good stories to the worst of the worst tragedies and crimes. I’ve seen dumb criminals and gallant heroes, selfless humanitarians and pieces of trash. I haven’t seen it all but I’ve seen more than most.
I figured up recently that I’ve been to more than 1,500 wrecks during my career here, written up more than 4,000 crimes, written nearly 10,000 obituaries and listed almost 30,000 entries in combined court dockets.
For this reason, it’s sometimes hard to remember each and every story I’ve done and the cast of characters which made up the story. The big ones are easy to remember as I can sometimes dazzle people with my memory of details on the majors. But, when you get into some of those which are less major, it’s tough. Given prompting, I can sometimes pull an older case out of my memory bank.
This is sometimes offensive to people I meet on the street who feel slighted when I admit I can’t recall their stories. The fact a person is involved in a newspaper story is a momentous time for them, either good or bad, so it’s hard for them to imagine how the guy who wrote the story, can’t even recall it . I guess they figure if they know me, I should know them. However, it isn’t that easy when there’s been so many stories over the years.
Of course, recalling names and putting them with faces has never been a strong suit with me. You’ve heard people say “I never forget a face.” Well, that’s me. I rarely forget a face, but when put on the line, sometimes it’s hard to pull up the name from the memory banks. There’s a reason you wear name tags at reunions and other public events. It’s to prevent such awkward situations.
The most awkward part is when someone comes up and calls me by name, talking to me like we do lunch on a regular basis. Immediately the wheels start spinning as I look for some clue as to their identity. However, the harder I try, the deeper the name gets hidden in the corners of my mind, leading me to use the old stand by come backs. “How’s it going buddy” or “How have you been” are the two which immediately leap forth.
But then there’s the cases where you’re put on an even tougher spot, when you are accompanied by someone else and run into this person. In these cases introductions are in order as the two stand there awkwardly, waiting to be formally introduced. The only option is to be very rude and get the two to introduce themselves, thereby giving me the name too.
And then there’s the ultimate spot when this person you should know says the words “you don’t remember me do you?”
Now there’s nothing more embarrassing to be called on the spot where the person knows your name but you don’t know theirs. All you can do is look them up and down and perhaps make a wild guess, a guess which is almost always wrong. I find the best policy in these cases is to admit you don’t know the name and then make up for it on the back end by sucking up and offering compliments.
“Wow, I wouldn’t have recognized you,” I start. “Have you lost weight? You look so young. I don’t recall you looking so good. The years have been kind.”
Of course, the process is made more difficult if the person is dirt ugly.
(Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard who can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)