Ohhh hey.......yooouuuu.....

While I was working today, a man came through my line. I had been somewhat rushing through the last few orders so I did not look up when I said, "How are you today?" He said that he was good and I continued scanning his groceries. Halfway through his order, he asked me, "Hey, did you go to (Insert the name of my elementary school here)?" I looked up. I had not thought about elementary school since middle school when I longed for the days of recess and snack time. "Yes I did." I said. "Well," he responded, "I used to be an administrator there. I'm Mr. (Insert difficult to pronounce name here) and I remember you." Crap. I didn't remember him at all. I stood there for about five seconds with a somewhat blank expression on my face and then I figured I should just tell him the truth. I said, "Ohhhh yeah! I remember you, too! That's so weird! It's been a while! A long, long time...." He continued to ask me questions about what grade I was in and what kind of activities I had gotten involved in and the only thing that I could think of to ask was, "Would you like your Dr. Pepper left out?" It was awkward.

Let me clarify something so that I don't seem like a huge jerk. I went to two different elementary schools. The school that Mr. Whatshisface was an administrator at was my first school that I went to when I moved here during kindergarten. The second school was built during my second grade year and by third grade I had been transferred. So, I would have only had this administrator for three years! This was also during a time that no one can remember! I don't even remember what my kindergarten teacher looks like! (I'm going to stop this paragraph now because it just makes me sound worse).

By sharing this story, my question is: should I be responsible for remembering him? People forget others all the time, so why do I feel so bad that I didn't remember him at all. Seriously, his face was like a blank canvass, but my mind was looking for things that made it memorable. I've met a lot of people in my life, we all have, so why should I punish myself for not remembering this man? Still, I can't escape the feeling that I should remember him. He didn't have a name tag on that said "Hi my name is Mr. Idontcare," but I still feel bad for not remembering him.