Oh, you’re probably thinking of Greg
In my previous post referencing some of my stranger weekend experiences, I was intrigued by the fact that anyone actually responded to the “mistaken identity” idea. I’m almost over the weekend goings-on, now that it’s Tuesday, but some of it still lingers.
To continue on the mistaken identity theme, in a slightly different direction though, I have yet another story to tell. It’s from about eleven years ago. I got hired for a part time job in the circulation department at the local newspaper. It was extremely lower level management, the kind that doesn’t insulate you from having to wake up at four in the morning, or earlier.
On the day I was hired, my new boss gave me the orientation tour, and on the way around the office that morning she kept commenting back and forth with the others in the office about how much I resembled “Greg.” They seemed truly amazed by it, though I couldn’t believe it was as astounding as they were making it out to be. That was until about the second week on the job. It was early on Monday morning, and I was arriving at the office around 4:30 a.m.
There was only one other vehicle in the lot as I got out of my car. It was then that I spotted him, and all the talk from the people in the office couldn’t prepare me for how similar the young man at the office entrance truly did appear. I was still quite tired, and so for an instant, I wasn’t actually sure whether I was awake or not—perhaps I was still dreaming. But no, as I rubbed my eyes, I was relatively sure that I was awake and it was apparent that the other guy was as initially perplexed as I was.
“Hi—you must be Greg,” I uttered, hardly recovered from my minor bout with disbelief.
To which he responded, “Yeah, you must be Howard.” Then we exchanged pleasantries and went our respective ways.
I think we worked out of the same office for several months thereafter. He certainly seemed like a decent enough guy, but I think that once we got past the visual likeness, there wasn’t too much else we had in common. Still, in the years since, I’ve met many people who swear they’ve met me before, even though I can’t recall them at all (and my memory for faces is quite good, though not as much for names, unfortunately). For a few years there, my patent response to this sort of recognition from folks I was sure I’d never known became, “Oh, you’re probably thinking of Greg.”
The only thing I wonder about it is if other people have approached him over the years and mistaken him for me. It’s just a curiosity… not really the kind of mistaken identity issue I was thinking of in the previous post, but it’s what occurred to me after reading a couple comments.
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