I met a man last night who remembered me from 30 years ago

[Watchbue]

Which is nice but also freaking me out a bit.

I was at a party for my sports club. We are both members, but compete at different levels, so although I'd seen him, we'd never actually spoken.

Last night I made a point of "working the room" and spoke to lots of people from different groups which was nice.

When I spoke to him and laughed about the fact that I'd "known" him for ages, but didn't actually know his name, he said "I know you, you used to go to Gym in our Town c.1992, you used the stepper a lot."

Now it's flattering to think someone I didn't really know recognised me from 30 years ago, I obviously haven't changed bit 😆 but also really weird? I have no recollection of him at all. Also not sure if I did use the stepper, but I was a member at that time.

He also appeared to know my life story, things which lots of people at the club know, but no idea why he would know them.

This is weird, right?

Some people just have a really good memory.

I can remember the names of all the people I went to school with 30 years ago, as well as all my GCSE and A-level results. I can remember teachers names and all sorts. It's just one of those things.

I said hello to a woman at the local pool because I remember her from the school run 18 years ago.

We didn’t know each other beyond passing each other every day for 4 years. I remember faces, so I said hi. Turns out I’m a weirdo because she had no memory of this whatsoever. 😬

Maybe the poor bugger has a good memory for faces.

No it's not that weird.

I remember all sorts of random trivia.

For some reason, I remember my grandad's friend had a guinea pig named Gomez, and I only met him once when I was 6.

I'd never even met the guinea pig, I just remember he told me 😳😁

Ahh it makes sense now.

You're asking if it means he's interested in you?

Hard to say, because as you can see here, lots of people remember random stuff.

It's not something we can always help.

I would find it a little creepy that he said it out loud, but the truth is I remember random people from decades ago. If I ran into them I would know "Oh you used to get the train from Clapton every morning, front carriage". I would be afraid to say it in case they thought I was obsessed with them, when they were just part of the daily furniture for a while.

Don't think it's weird at all to remember details like this from the past. He may well have had a crush on you at time as well. Didn't you ever have crushes on people? None of that means he still fancies you or has stalked you in the meantime. What is a little weird is that he told you all of this. I would probably edit some of the details I remembered about someone for precisely this reason, they'd think it was weird that I remembered so much.

That's definitely something I would do

I don't know if people remember me in the same way, so in my head I'd rather play it safe, be polite and say hello - they never remember me like I remember them though, and yet I never learn, lol.

omg what is the right answer to that.

I think you delivered pizza to a few of the girls on my dorm.

I don't think it's weird or creepy.

TBH, it's not so much that he remembers me, but that he's obviously been asking after me, as he know so much current stuff about me.

I have a terrible memory for names and faces but if I spoke to someone enough to learn their work, family details etc even casually, I’d probably recall them decades later esp if they hadn’t changed much physically.

and I’m not a creep or a weirdo, well H occasionally says I’m weird but in public I portray a normal person 😉

edit to say IF he learned all these things from other people about you, yeah its creepy but is it possible he spoke to you and you don’t recall it?

I have a good memory for faces. Last week at a funeral, I recognised the woman who worked in a chemist I went in once or twice in the 90s before I left home. I didn't make it weird by telling her I recognised her though, I think that makes a big difference!

@Watchbue are you single. Sounds like he's interested

Some people are super-recognisers and have an exceptionally good memory for faces. Look it up. T

Funny you should say that’s then man I mentioned is now my dp of 7 years. We got together 2 years after we met again

Not that weird. My friend introduced me to her new DP and the first thing out of my mouth was “I remember you, I took your stitches out!” 😂

I had indeed taken stitches out of his face 8 years before, it was a brief interaction but I’m just very good at remembering faces! Names, not so much, but definitely faces.

There are good jobs if you are officially a super recogniser including police. And lots of scientists might be interested in studying how your brain works. Goggle "face super recogniser".

So what if he fancied her? Isn't he allowed to?

It’s pretty obvious that he fancies you, back in 1992 and now! That’s why he’s been asking about you among other club members, he wanted to find out whether you were single.

It could be a bit creepy, but don’t worry about it. He might turn out to be fine.

I don't think it's that weird. I have a terrible memory for faces and names but I've often had people come up to me and saying hello. I just go with it and pretend say hi back because I'm too embarrassed to say I have no idea who they are!

I never forget a face and have startled people on more than one occasion. Recently saw an old student from same dept. She was doing a PhD at the time. I was hello it’s x isn’t it and she was a bit taken aback then I mentioned my colleague who she would have direct contact with and the fact that I had dealings with two good friends of hers when working at the University and we had in fact been guests at a wedding of one of the friends about 12 years ago.

When gym newbies are worried about making a fool of themselves they’re reassured that everyone there is too busy focusing on their own workouts, not watching everyone else. This man took enough of an interest in a nameless stranger to remember her 30 years later, even down to what equipment she liked. Creepy AF.

I answered the door one day a couple of years ago for a parcel delivery and the Evri guy said "Hi Wings!"

He recognised me straight away when he hadn't seen me for 30+ years since I left my home town. We used to going to the same leisure centre as teens and had friends of friends type thing, but never directly knew each other.

I have changed SIGNIFICANTLY since the 80s/90s when I was thin as a rake and had a huge black perm. Now just huge with a thinning grey bob!

Some people just have good memories for faces, although it is a tiny bit disconcerting when he makes (harmless/small talk/being friendly/jokes) comments about where the parcels are coming from or if there are a lot of parcels one week. He occasionally shares news from people I used to hang around with 30 years ago.....do you remember X who married Y? I delivered a parcel to X and they told me Y died last month.

I make dh answer the door now as I just cannot be arsed with the conversation.

No it is not necessarily creepy.

If I fancied someone, I would take more of an interest in them than anyone else. It is normal.

It only becomes creepy if he gave her unwanted attention which he did not.

I really fancy a certain footballer. If he attended my gym then I would take much more notice of him than anyone else.

Yes, we're both widowed actually, which he already knew about me!