Regular readers may recall my encounter earlier this summer with a man who was surprised, upon meeting me, to realize that I am a FemaleScienceProfessor rather than a MaleScienceProfessor. His astonishment stemmed from the fact that he had heard of me, read my papers, even had one of his own papers reviewed by me. Anyway, as I wrote, he finally got over his disbelief that a female could have accomplished the scientific things I have accomplished, and we spent an amicable week at a small conference and had numerous conversations about Science.
This morning I went down to breakfast at a hotel, and there he was! I smiled and said good morning, and he stared at me, at first blankly, then with a confused expression. He did not return my greeting. Oh well.. maybe he's one of those people who isn't good with names/faces, even for someone he just met a month or two ago? But no, once again, I had the opportunity to shift his universe. The reason he couldn't believe I was me yet again? This morning I was accompanied by a young child, my daughter. He was surprised that a mom-type person with a kid was greeting him at the hotel, and thought I was just a friendly person saying random good mornings to people at breakfast. After all, HE is here for a conference.
He's going to be so embarrassed later.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he has some very mild form of autism. If you look the same, the context shouldn't have thrown him for such a loop.
ReplyDeleteClassic!
ReplyDeleteI get the same thing when I wear a dress.
I like the autism explanation, since it explains why 'mom' people go in a totally different category than 'science' people.
Little boxes, everyone.
priceless.
ReplyDeleteI find that context is everything in remembering faces, and the older I get the worse it gets.
ReplyDeleteI was never very good at faces, but now I fail to recognize people I know so often that I've had to give up being embarassed by it. And often I can't even apologize because I don't remember who they are until hours later. (Something about the synapes all slowing down???)
Well, I sometimes struggle to place people when I meet them out of context, especially when I'm concentrating on such pressing matters as a meal. OTOH, maybe I'm mildly autistic too :-)
ReplyDeleteI had the same thought. People with Asperger's (not exactly scarce in the sciences, relatively speaking) often have a terrible time recognizing faces unless they're given a lot of supporting clues to the person's identity.
ReplyDeleteAlthough context does have a lot to do for some people.
ReplyDeleteA young male said hi to me before a bellydance show I was attending and I had no idea who he was. I couldn't place him. Then half way through I realized that he was in the intro science class I was a teaching assistant for.
It just really threw me that the geeky guy from class was going to a bellydance show.
I figured asking him during class if he liked the bellydance show wasn't exactly the thing to do... perhaps I should have?
I don't know, I often have serious trouble with faces. That's fantastic that you could show this to him (again) though! He seems open-minded enough.
ReplyDeleteHeh, this guy so lives in his own world...
ReplyDelete