akward by-product of relative face blindness

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Ever see somebody in public and mistake them for someone else?

Today i saw the lady from the post office and she said hello to me and because i did not recognise her right away as the lady from the post office, for some reason, I thought she was this other lady who i worked with years ago..so i said "long time no see"..and she said.."You just saw me yesterday"....Anywhoo..there have been numerous similar accounts of my doing this....

My stomach is still flip flopping from embarrasment..

I think this is not unusual. People from tv use to be called by people who "know them but don't rememver where from".

And I confused many sisters.

Yeah, I have face blindness issues too.

I have walked past people I know - including members of my family and boyfriends, and a lot of the time people say 'hi' to me and I either don't know who they are at all (until they tell me facts about themselves, because that, and sound of voice, is how I remember people) or I confuse them with someone else - which has led to many embarrasing situations.

I try to get round it now by asking neutral questions that don't specify details about workplaces, where they live etc. as this stuff is impossible to know if you can't recognise the person.

So I stick to questions like 'How are you?' and even boring NT smalltalk fodder (when I'm desperate) like 'isn't a nice day today?'...... (even though I really don't see the point of saying stuff like this - at least it buys me some time to figure out who the person is!)

i hate dating because if i don't know someone really well i can't pick them out in a crowd. i have to know someone well enough to know how they move to be able to do that or else they had better be wearing something destinct.

More than once...

What's also embarrassing: seeing someone I know in public but in a different context than usual, and not recognizing them. Like the time I bumped into one of the managers from where I work while I was grocery shopping, and it took me a long moment to figure out who he was...

Alll the stinking time...

There have been times when picking up my small children from the nursery at church that I didn't recognize them. I had to check the name tag, and even then had a sinking feeling in my gut that I'd brought the wrong kid until I got to the car and my wife saw the kids.

So far I've gotten it right, but it's still kinda scary. I've never told my wife this, she already doesn't believe in AS, so she'd probably think I was nuts.

Oh man, if I had a nickel for ecah time. . .

Kinda standard issue aspie stuff.

This has happened to me, too.