Wow...this hits home. I call Alternate Personas "playing a character;" I'm totally different people with coworkers, with family, and with various friends (depending on how much they know about me). Before I learned about Aspergers, my personas were so severe there was actually a point where I feared I might have Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)...but now I call the concept "mirroring" people, taking cues from their lead and "being the person they expect me to be" (in order to get through the situation).
Here's what I wrote about "characters" a few years ago, back I when I used to "classify" people, and treat them accordingly:
"Everyone I’ve met, I’ve met for a reason.
It’s almost like my life has had a prerecorded path, and like characters in a story, each person I’ve met has played a very specific role.
The “primary” characters have been with me the longest, like parents & relatives, siblings, & lifelong friends; these are the people who were always there for me, solid, dependable, and very much loved. The “secondary” characters would be those I only knew briefly…aquaintances, neighbors, coworkers, & short-term friends who were around for just a few months or years. I’ve also crossed many “stock” & “throwaway” characters, tricks I only vaguely remember, men whose names were irrelivant as long as they took me home.
But it took eleven years for me to realize throwaways were as important as primaries. Their roles may have been brief, but they were characters living their own, individual stories.
I was wrong to use them as I did.
I’d do anything to travel back in time and make ammends for my behavior.
Especially to those people I’d mistaken for throwaways…"
I actually brought this concept up to my last shrink (who never considered Aspergers, because I appeared to be so functional); I'm glad I'm not the only one who does this...