Blasts from the past

I have a good memory for names. Once I've gotten your name in my head (which these days may take one or two times meeting you) it is irrevocably stuck in my vault of mostly useless knowledge. Oh sure, I may not remember WHY I know someone, but I do remember names.

Therein lies one problem - that I can't remember if we went to school together, worked together, or if I arrested or served a paper to them. That is a crucial detail, because for the most part I will treat someone I went to school with differently than someone I had to slap a pair of cuffs on.

The other problem is that I often run into people who I only knew as an acquaintance while serving them a summons or court order. Since I am roughly double the man I was when they knew me 20 or so years ago, people often don't recognize me unless they had at some point imagined what I would have looked like if I had eaten a whole other person. (I really have to hit the gym!)

These problems create a paradox whenever I end up on the doorstep of somebody I haven't seen in 15 to 20 years. Do I decide to pass it off to another guy from the office (something allowed if I have a personal conflict which would create a tricky situation), do I knock and greet them like an old friend before giving them an order to appear in court and explain why they missed their previous court date, or do I knock and pretend that they are just another stranger - and hope that they don't recognize me.

I mostly choose the third option, and while this mostly works out as I had planned, there are many times where the person in question does recognize me, creating an incredibly awkward moment. In fact, I've previously written on this very blog about one of those instances.

I had another of those situations tonight, when I had to serve a pair of summonses on a guy I had grown up with and hadn't seen for over 20 years. His ward met in the same building as mine, and being in the same stake we often played church basketball against each other, ended up at large scout activities together, and so on. He currently owns a landscaping company, and it is being sued because he had purchased a large amount of materials from another company for a project, and the project owner never paid his company for it, leaving him holding the bag. In addition, with the bad economy, his company didn't have the liquidity to just cover the costs. I had finished serving him when he said "don't I recognize you from somewhere?" I re-introduced myself and explained how he knew me. He was really embarrassed, and kept apologizing for me having to bring court papers to him. I reassured him that just about everybody gets sued at some point, and that bad things happen to good people.

I guess that if I end up on your doorstep with court papers, I apologize in advance if it is awkward, and I'll pretend to not know you.