Do You Remember Me?

I am horrible at remembering people I don't see all the time. I always have been. When I was a kid and went to our family's Cousins by the Dozens picnic, I only knew my immediate aunts, uncles, and cousins. The rest of them? Well, I saw them at the picnic or at weddings and funerals. I had no clue who they were.

This is my explanation for why my least favorite question is: Do you remember me?

It happened to me on Saturday. Again.

I was grocery shopping and got in the check out line. This guy got in line behind me and he started talking to me. I'm actually used to this. The weekend before, a guy started talking to me while we were getting gas. No biggie. And then he asked the question I never want to hear. Do you remember me?

Nooooooooooo!

Panic now sets in. My brain scrambles as it tries to come up with a name. The guy is wearing a face mask and he lowers it so I can see his entire face. Damn, I still can't come up with a name or even where I know him from.

He was really nice about it, but it was pretty clear I was clueless. As it turned out, he was someone from my day job. We'd be in the gym at the same time pretty much every day. (The gym is in our office building.) But I hadn't seen him since we were sent to work from home in March 2020, and even though we've been forced back to our cubes, I hadn't seen him in the gym. And his hair was a lot grayer than I recalled, which also threw me off.

Sadly, this happens to me often enough that I should be used to this by now. I'm not. I honestly wish people would never ask, Do you remember me?