Keep forgetting names...

theredletter

Hey!

Long story short my contract went from part time to full time in the last few weeks and although I've been working for the company for 9 months I'm still a bit iffy on names.. How do I ask someone I met twice in the last nine months their name again? I feel like it's becoming an issue!

Thanks
Ross

solomafioso

Some good tricks in this Lifehacker article.

http://lifehacker.com/5992815/make-better-eye-contact-and-remember-peoples-names-with-one-simple-trick

B.A._Baracus

Takes me a few times to remember peoples names in jobs / courses (etc) too. Although great at remembering faces.

Like you, I have been in part-time employment before and knew all the part-timers names. But not knowing the full-timers names as you wouldn't really deal with them on a regular basis. So it was weird when I switched to full time ... just like you :pac:

It's kind of a socially awkward moment as you don't want to go up to someone and say "whats your name again?" as you may have randomly talked to them a number of times :pac:

But there are really simple ways
- Keep your ears open. If you don't know someones name you are going to hear another staff member call him or her by name.
- Ask another staff member. You can easily put a little joke in there too. - "whats his name again? i'm bloody terrible at remembering names. Got the memory of a goldfish!"

Both worked for me :pac:

solomafioso

Another trick is to look back over emails / google / linkedin / or if your company has a website there are usually headshots of people on there!

theredletter

Thanks for that! I identified the people whose names I didn't know and just went on Facebook and looked them up... some of them were there while others weren't. It's our company's policy not to put pictures on our Linked Ins so hopefully the advice above can help -cheers!

messrs

in my company we use outlook and everyones picture is on their email, so another option is to just look through all the names & pics and try to get to know them that way

Tarzana

solomafioso wrote: »

Some good tricks in this Lifehacker article.

http://lifehacker.com/5992815/make-better-eye-contact-and-remember-peoples-names-with-one-simple-trick

Love this.

Plek Trum

I often say "Sorry, whats your name again?" and then respond with their name. Then say "sorry, no, not your first name, I know that, I was wondering about your second name because a friend of mine thought they knew you from college / sport / club" or whichever.

Works everytime and is a nice little conversation opener too !

Mrs OBumble

Mr O'Bumble just calls everyone "Howya"

beauf

Maybe make your own list. Or offer to maintain a company directory. I have a terrible memory for people as well. But I do remember things I look at better than I hear. A visual memory as it were. Something like a company organisational chart might help, to remember information, and in context.

NipNip

I have to write names down. That simple. I write them down until I get it. My problem is that a lot of David's look like Eric or Ernest lol. In my head.

NipNip

I have to write names down. That simple. I write them down until I get it. My problem is that a lot of David's look like Eric or Ernest lol. In my head.

NipNip

Oh yeah, repetition helps.