Posted: 12/22/2010 7:23:26 AM EDT
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In the past week, I've met up with two people where the exchange was, "You look very familiar" or "I remember you". One was in town at a ceremony while another was in a neighboring town at a Class 6 store. Both were for situations connected to the same event and it's not the first time that it has happened. Another time, months ago, it was a cashier at a hobby store.
As I go through life, I have come to realize at least two things. First of all, I am a recognized person. I should not expect that I can act scandalously at some affair, some where, and get away with it. Hooping and hollering, swinging a bra above my head at a bar in El Paso, given the above, given Murphy's luck, would have excellent odds of coming back to haunt me. Hence, I try to live my life so if it showed up on the front page of the paper tomorrow, I would own up to it. Mind you, there are things I would wish that they would not end up on the front page. Secondly, to be very careful who I get angry with, who I issue a bad word to, for the stranger that I might do it to on the road today.........might be in an organization tomorrow where I am seen as a leader. As it is, my usual response to road incidents is "Well, if it is that important to you....," and my most angry phrase is, "You, jerk!". The point is that as police or similar, we are that visible and we should keep the above in mind. We are not a faceless person in the mass. ______________________________________________ ("I am not a hooker....................you jerk!"––Maggie to Flashman, (w,stte), "Northern Exposure") |
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Many more people remember me than I remember them. People recall me all the way back to our elementary school days together.
Remembering peoples names has always been my achilles heel. I have to use a few tricks to recall peoples names now....remembering people 30 years later...forget it. |
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I was escorting inmates into a courtroom a few months back.
One of the inmates winds up calling me by my first/last name. I look at him, he's some tard I went through school with back in freaking Jr. high school. Guess I have a memorable face. Meanwhile, I am good with recognizing faces too but I am HORRIBLE with names. Meaning embarrassingly so when it comes time to remembering even the name of a cute girl after I've met her. |
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In the past week, I've met up with two people where the exchange was, "You look very familiar" OMG...You met NorCal... Uh oh...... 
I tend to remember a person's face and be able to recall the instance in which we met. Names, not so much. It's come in handy a time or two. |
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everybody recognizes me, but nobody knows who i am. they all think i look or sound like someone they know, but they can't quite match up a name to a face, or they are genuinely surprised when they figure out i'm not who they thought. comes in handy  Same here........ had some weird incidents too. At least they were all very friendly, with only one that seemed really odd. |
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I apparently have a very recognizable face. I have had several guys in the gym ask me, "Hey, aren't you a cop here in town?" (I was.)
I had one of my just-discharged offenders come up to me at the county fair this year, while I was working my reserve deputy gig, and say, "Hi, Mr. ARJJ. It's nice to be free again." I didn't recognize him for a second. Just Wednesday, the mother of one of my new offenders told me that her daughter had seen me in Wal-Mart in my town. (I work in the county south of where I live.) It just confirms to me that I can't be too cautious in observing PERSEC, there is a reason I carry all the time, and that I need to remain aware of my surroundings. This is especially true for me, since 100% of the people I deal with are convicted felons. |
I am one of those people everyone thinks they know, but can't remember where. I get it a lot. They ask me all the time which High School I went to, funny thing is, I went to High School almost 2000 miles away from here I have also had times when another LEO introduces me to someone new, and the person says "oh, we already met". Every now and then, I get recognized as a LEO. All my encounters have been good, but it reminds me that I need to remember to CC when off duty. |
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I fail to see the problem! Hooping and hollering, swinging a bra above my head at a bar in El Paso, ______________________________________________ ("I am not a hooker....................you jerk!"––Maggie to Flashman, (w,stte), "Northern Exposure")
I can't see how I might explain away that one. Granted, I do a lot of things that are not acceptable to a lot of people....like belly dancing.......but the things I try to do in this life are, as I said, if questioned about, I will stand up for. Belly dancing is subject to interpretation although when I had to answer to it to NCIS when I was in the Navy, I did leave that interview wondering if I had invited NCIS to take a deeper look at my life. I try to do things for one of two drives, either for a good reason or on a whim, but not ever for a bad reason where I might want to say otherwise, ie, lie. What is one of those questions on a police field interview form? "Why were you in this area?" Or the question I got when I was interviewing for a position in a Secretary's office "Have you ever done anything that if it came to light, would shine poorly on the Secretary or the Governor?". Another problem is that as an observer, researcher, or spy, the places I might be could be acceptable to that make up, but again, people might not understand. Why go to a gay bar if to the world at large, one is not.....and therefore to the world at large, they could then assume that one is? Because the way a lot of the world feels about such things, it is an excellent "briar patch" that one might use to illuminate or shake a tail. But again, it comes down to the ways I've been taught, both in doing this or that to get background on something so to be able to use it effectively and my EW background of exploiting environment to detect an opposing force. Getting more back to the OP and how others have approached this one, I'm not quite always sure how people recognize me, only that I'm a known face in the community. A lot seem to know me because I am a cyclist, they see me riding around town. Profs remember me because of the interesting questions I asked in their class. Others seem to know me because I'm a diver. But on the other hand, what some people may say might put interesting notions into the minds of those around them. One of the people I met recently similarly commented, "the last time I saw you, you were working on that project with DPS; how did it turn out?"..................................so what would one think that everyone else in the room was probably thinking at that moment? It's that type of world. On one hand, I should not think just because I am here or there with lots of LEO's on first name basis with them that that would make me like them......but on the other hand, I would be a fool to assume that any outside observer would assume, rightly or wrongly, that there is no special connection. Especially when there have been times when people on the street or in a store take one look at me and suddenly go the other direction. I am addressed by default titles of respect by strangers daily. Maybe it is a very polite society or........... And then there is what my older brother said once, of how he would not be surprised if he found out I was working for INTERPOL or something. About the only thing I'm fairly sure of in this hazy world is that if I am ever caught in a hostage taking......they're probably going to shoot me first on general principle. Whether it is by design or just the natural progression of things (or a defensive camouflage to what I just said), I've seen my personalty with others become something of "Francis 7"/"Prince Vultan"/"Romana II"/"Kara"......positive, smiling, diplomatic, outgoing, bubbly....and a flirt. It's not everything at once, but this or that at times, such as reflecting back to cashiers the greetings they give.......or remaining cherry in this holiday season when it is less than cherry for me. Further, it is something that just clicks on when I am interacting with people. Problems of the day until the interaction but then I don't lay my problems on them. Now, will it hold up under a strain, where each engagement is potentially abusive like for traffic stops.......I don't know. It's nice to be known. It's one of factors I hold as against any motivation to move to another town or a big city......but it does come with certain prices. ________________________________________________________________________________ ("You're right. You're absolutely right. There is enough doom and gloom in the air already. And, it is better to accept defeat than to take a chance and try like fools to redeem ourselves, and save our city and all those who we love there, plus all the people on earth that this wicked sorceress is going to make suffer, just because of us - cheaters."––Kara in opposition to Zaltar's pessimism, (w,stte), "Supergirl") |
| I tend to get recognised quite a lot off duty. I have always worked on the streets and some custody tours. Most of the time I can't recall who I'm talking to but talk to them as if I do remember them. I don't get any trouble......but I can't work surveillance....... |
| You've got to understand that the bad guys are watching. If you're on the street they see you. When you are on TV they see you. Their little crack riddled minds tuck that info away so they can use it to their advantage down the road. It may not even be anything nefarious. They may use it just to get a smile from you or a cigarette but they will use it if it can help them. |