I’m autistic and I don’t always recognize people. Yeah, it’s a thing. I failed to recognize an old coworker today and it was embarrassing. I don’t know about other autistic people, but I HATE not recognizing people when people expect me to know who they are.

Today, I was taking the order of what I thought was just a normal customer. He was actually a former coworker of mine. We worked together for a couple of months. Because he wasn’t in uniform (obviously, cuz he quit the job), I did not think it was him. He started laughing a little bit when I talked to him like a cashier talking to any other customer. That’s when I thought, ‘Crap, am I supposed to know him?’

While packing his order, I hear my manager say, “Hey, Greg.” Damn it, it was Greg. I felt this wave of embarrassment come over me. It’s embarrassing because it makes me feel abnormal.

People have laughed at me in the past when I fail to recognize people, especially people that they think I should know because they go to my church or friends with my parents or something like that. I hate it.

Lemme give you another example of how bad my ability to recognize faces is:

My dad has a long time friend and coworker. He’s been part of my Dad’s life since I was a baby. He’s been to our house multiple times. This friend of his even had his wedding at our house! One day, he comes into the KFC I work at while I’m the cashier. He gives me his order, and the whole time I talk to him like any other customer. I did not recognize him one bit. After I gave him the receipt, he tells me he knows my Dad. I recognized his name, but not his face. A few days later, I bring the whole thing up to my Mom and she tells me that this friend told her and my Dad about it, too. He was bewildered at how I didn’t recognize him. I felt totally abnormal.

It’s the same with celebrities. I mistook the famous singers Rihanna and Beyoncé as the same person for a long time. I will literally watch movies with people and they will say the name of a famous actor that’s in the movie, and I will have no clue that it was the same person from another movie I’ve watched them in. For example, I watched Inception and someone went, “Hey, that’s Leonardo DiCaprio.” I be all like “Who?” Them: “You know, Jack from Titanic.” *facepalm*

Anyway, I needed to vent that frustration. My Autistic peeps, feel free to comment on your experience with facial recognition issues. PLEASE. I need to hear from others that this isn’t just me!