Hey,

There's plenty of people here from all around...I have a question. How important it is to remember people's names round where you are?

I always teach my pupils about speaking with american customers that you need to remember and use their names. It's been my experience that Americans in particular often even get insulted to a degree if you don't use their names in conversation, or appear not to remember them. And it's simply customary to greet people with their first names, like 'Hey John, how are you' and so on.

It's a slight problem, because it doesn't happen here. I mean, people do usually mutter their names when they meet the first time, but they're not used really. I can't remember the last time I actually spoke to someone and used their name in the process. Hell, I don't even _know_ the names of half my colleagues whom with I speak almost on a daily basis. I don't even try to remember the names of my pupils, although naturally over the 3-4 years I teach them some stick to mind. But generally, well, I might not come up with my mom's correct name if I was suddenly asked what it was, because I never use it.

I suppose people most often call children by first names, but not grownups any more. And when we were teenagers, we didn't really ever use our real names...some went by using only their last names, and many used some different name, like 'John' might be called 'Peter' just for some obscure reason, or 'John Winter' might be called 'Wintry' only or such. And that's how we'd also introduce ourselves to new acquaintances. Or just knew people 'the guy with the Suzuki RR' etc.

That's why it's slightly hard to try and remember names of people, and even use them too.

Even now, when I meet like my old friends, it's just like 'hey, how are you' or maybe 'Hey, what's up geezer' or with very good friends it's usually more like 'hey you old prick' or some other insult reserved for only the very best of friends. You know, the better the buddy, the uglier the greetings. And if they're really good friends, instead of how you're doing you'd start with like 'Is that shitty car of yours still holding together' or something. But hardly _ever_ the name is used. I even tend to use a different name in different band projects etc. and when I was working in the U.S. and people asked my name, I told them to call me whatever they wish, because nobody could pronounce my real name anyway. So they just called me whatever, and it's fine by me.

So, how important is remembering and using people's names for you?