She laughed uncomfortably and said "who am I confusing you with?"

At least she didn't *actually* say, "Now, which one are you?"

Wow, Hil and I are the same person! Seriously, my memory sucks, and I cannot remember faces to save my life. God is it humiliating.

Not saying that's what happened with Vortex's person, just sending out a "my sister" shout to Hil.

Heh, Vortex that reminds me of a classic lawyer joke.

During recruiting season a law student gets taken out by a potential firm and totally wasted. But he still has interviews the next day with another firm. He drags his ass in and he's deeply and completely hungover. In fact, he can't even remember the name of the firm.

He decides to fake the information out during the course of his first interview with a partner. At the end of the interview he says, "You know I'm sorry to ask but I was having a little trouble spelling the name of your firm. Could you spell it out for me?"

The Partner gives him a long look and with a totally straight face says, "B-r-o-w-n and W-o-o-d."

(True story? Maybe)

I cannot remember faces to save my life. God is it humiliating.

Yes, I but I suspect that you can tell the difference between me and ita.

We have a functional bathroom again. I love Roto-Rooter. I still can't believe our landlady had never heard of them.

Never heard of them?

Good lawd. Not only could I sing their jingle for you with a gun to my head, if I played an instrument, I'd strum a few bars!

Great. Now I'll be humming that blasted tune instead of sleeping.

Roto-Rooter...that's the name. And away go troubles, down the drain...

Great. I'm screwed.

Twice I got called the name of the other black female instructor. She's red where I'm yellow, 40lbs lighter, shorter by 6 inches and with a mass of brown ringlets.

The first time I was called her name I hadn't even met her. When I did I sputtered "You're [instructor]??" and she was very confused.

The only other instructor whose name I've been called made actual sense, since we always worked together and our names rhyme.

I love Roto-Rooter. I still can't believe our landlady had never heard of them.

Not heard of Roto-Rooter?? That's freaky. In any case, yay for plumbers.

I'm absolutely awful with remembering my students' names. I only see them for 45 minutes a week, unless they come to office hours, so I always get terribly flustered if someone comes up to me after class and says something like, "Did you get my email?" Chances are, I got emails from at least ten students that week, and I've got no clue who the person in front of me is. I know the people who come to office hours by name, and there are some students that I've got mentally catalogued as "Blonde girl who sits in the back corner and usually knows the answers to questions" or "Indian guy who thinks I don't notice he spends most classes text-messaging" or "Dark-haired guy who always wants me to explain every step of the algebra," but I'd say that at least a third of the class, I'm not positive I'd recognize outside the classroom.

Someone once suggested I try asking "How do you spell your name?" when I don't want to admit I don't remember someone's name. But the first time I tried it, it turned out his name was Jim. I decided that that felt even more foolish than just saying "I've forgotten your name."

(For my students, I usually try to ask each person their name when I call on them for the first few weeks. But after about three weeks, it gets embarrassing, and it really doesn't help me remember.)