I had this meeting today with a bunch of people I’ve worked with on projects before. We’ve got a fairly large renovation project we’re starting, and had to meet with the architect and contracters to give them an idea of what we need done so they can give us a bid. Because people in the department I work for still don’t think I’m capable of handling things myself, there were some other people from my department, who really don’t have much to do with this project, there to make sure I didn’t screw anything up, or act out in anyway. One of these people we’ll call Janice. I’ve worked with Janice quite extensively before. In fact, I used to work for her, well, for someone who worked for her, but she was involved enough in my supervisor’s job that I might as well have worked directly for her. The point is, she knows me quite well.
Anyway, she hasn’t seen me since I’ve grown my beard, and I was wearing this corduroy hat that I haven’t ever worn to work before, so she walks in, sits down, looks around and then turns to me and says, “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Janice with such-and-such department…” All I could do for a moment was sit there in stunned silence. I’ve worked with this woman for more than 5 years now, and she had no idea who I was. After a moment, I responded with, “Hi! I’m David, I manage these facilities for such-and-such department.” Now it was her turn to look stunned. She stared at me for a few seconds, mouth hanging open, eyes wide, and then said, “David! I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognize you with the beard and the hat, you look so different.”
I suppose I could have milked the situation, but I’ve been chuckling about it ever since as it is, and knew I would be, so I let it slide without any further discussion, but boy was that funny. I ought to grow a beard more often.
