Dear Crabby,
I often see people in the store and mistake them for someone else. I just start talking to them, thinking I know them. Then they finally tell me they have no idea who I am. Should I be embarrassed about that? Has this ever happened to you?
Sincerely, Missy Mistaken
Dear Missy,
I am so glad to hear that someone else does that too! That has been an issue for me since I was a young lad. I am always so confident that the person I am seeing is the person I am thinking of. Then I find out it’s not them at all! It is even worse for me when I mistake people for what they do as well. For example, I often ask people with red shirts on for assistance when shopping at Target. Sometimes they’ll still help me even though they don’t work there, but other times they give me really odd looks. One time I took the missus to one of them theater plays downtown and decided to splurge for the valet parking. I pulled up in front of the theater, handed the well-dressed man a dollar, and walked in with my wife. Afer the show, I asked the doorman where the valet was. He informed me that they didn’t have a valet service at that theater. As I tried to come to terms with what that all meant, the same well-dressed man walked up and handed me my keys, saying, “Here you go fella, next time you may want to dig a little deeper on that tip though!” Then he laughed and walked away. There was my Olds, right in front of the theater ready to go. Fate smiled at me that day – a smile that quickly faded. The very next day I stopped to buy a few groceries and trying to be friendly, I asked our local cashier when she was due. She gave me a very cross look and snapped, “Due for WHAT?” I turned a little red and realized she may have just put on a few pounds. It was only a few weeks later that another incident in the same store became equally embarrassing. Mrs. Crabby had 
been driving that day and had backed the car into a shopping cart in the parking lot. She asked me to see if there was any damage while she went ahead into the store. I checked the car and then walked in to find her. I saw her in the checkout line, so I came up behind her and said, “I checked out your rear end and it all looks fine, Honey.” To my surprise, a complete stranger turned around and slapped my face! In my defense, she had the same coat as Mrs. Crabby! With all the ruckus of this woman yelling at me and the store manager coming up and asking if there was a problem, Mrs. Crabby came walking up wanting to know how I knew this woman and what was going on. What a mess! I guess my point is that you are not alone with mistaken identity problems. Whether or not you need to feel embarrassed is up to you. As for me and my situations, I have learned to roll with it. I tell the missus that “I am what I is and I is what I am!”
Sincerely, Dear Crabby
Pondering a problem? Stuck in a rut? Dear Crabby can help you out! Email your questions to dearcrabby@rochestermedia.com.
About Dear Crabby