Summer...just like the season

Last week, I had the privilege to have dinner with an high school friend. I've been working out of town and it worked out that she was free the night I was in town with her. We enjoyed Cheesecake Factory and great conversation.

I'm not sure how we got on the subject, but I ended up telling a story from my freshman year in college. In summation, I made a statement and she immediately responded that it was a good quote, so I'm going to share with you, my adoring readers (haha!).

My freshman year at A&M I lived in Mosher Hall. My friend, Alissa, also lived in the same dorm so we hung out a bit. During move-in week, I remember going downstairs to Alissa's room and she introduced me to her neighbor (maybe suitemate?) who was rushing the same sorority with her. I don't remember her name (which becomes a little ironic) - we can call her Sue for the sake of the story - and to protect her identity. We all talked a bit and she seemed nice enough.

As the semester went on, I visited Alissa's room periodically and each time I saw Sue, she would always look at me like it was the first time we'd met, so Alissa would introduce me. By October/November, I would greet her by name and she'd look at me like she just couldn't place me. At this point, it was getting under my skin that she couldn't remember me. I distinctly remember thinking at one point "Chick, I may not be in your circle of friends, but I'm still worth you knowing my name." The last part - about being worth knowing is the part my HS friend liked.

When she commented on it, it dawned on me how profound this simple experience was on me now. I make a point to remember names. One of our employees told me once that I had a freakishly good memory when it came to knowing their names and which facility they work out (by the way - we have 30+ facilities and about 400 employees - I don't claim to know them all, but I certainly remember most). I really think that's something important to me because of my Lauren experience.

My point in telling this wasn't to front out Sue(as evidenced by the fact that I didn't even remember her name) or to brag on my memory - but really to thank her. As I've gone to each location over the last month, I've had more than one employee seem surprised that I knew who they were. I see them in person one time per year - but they are important to our company. And people are important to me.

And frankly, we are all worth knowing each others' names.