China Can't Come Soon Enough

I’ve heard that people are generally either good at algebra or good at geometry but rarely both. Similarly, it’s been said, people are either good at remembering names or good at remembering faces but, once again, rarely both. In my case these theories hold true as I’m excellent at geometry and never forget a face. And while I’ve yet to find my life wanting in the algebra department; what good is remembering the face when the matching name never makes it out of long term storage?

At work there’s this guy named Mitch, I think. We don’t work together but I tend to run into him once or twice a week in the hallways. He’s about my height with dark brown hair, always wears a genuine smile, and has these unforgettable steel grey eyes with just a touch of blue. We were introduced when he first started with the company about a year ago. This too is a guess as, like algebra, I’m horrible with time. My memory serves me fine for a week or two, maybe three but past that, events might as well have occurred three months ago or three years ago.

Mitch on the other hand seems to have a rock solid memory and never hesitates to show it off, turning a one-time introduction into a great display of mental capacity. “Hi Christian,” he’ll say as we pass in the hallway. Or maybe, “How’s your week going - Christian?” No matter what, he makes a point of throwing my name into every passing. At first I’d just respond with a simple “hey” or “how’s it going?” but it became awkward so I began mumbling his name hoping if it was close enough he wouldn’t notice. Mitch can easily sound like Mike or Matt or even Rich and besides, I was pretty sure his name was Mitch.

Yesterday an announcement was made and sent by email congratulating some guy named Scott on a promotion. It seems he’ll be moving to China and heading up a division involved in manufacturing. There was a picture attached - brown hair, genuine smile, and these unforgettable steel grey eyes with a touch of blue.

Mitch never sounds like Scott.