My ability to recall old conversations

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I was working at an electronics factory in 1995 talking to a new-starter about where he'd worked previously, ect, but he was more interested in talking about his obsession to become a police officer. We spoke about it at length, it was all he wanted to do in the near furure.

He had it all planned out, he was determined.

Fast forward to 2004 and I'm working in a food factory and guess who I spot in the break room? Mr Policeman!

He was a new-starter again.

I asked him about the police officer stuff and he just scowled at me. I asked him again and he shook his head and flatley denied it.

I persisted and he said "I dunno what you're on about".

He was probably lying as maybe he'd failed in his attempts to join the police force and didn't want people to know about his failure.

But it's possible that his obsession was fleeting and he quickly forgot about the entire thing. I doubt it though.

Do too. It's kind of interesting catch people tell small lies, when you are in a group, but not to tell but play along, guessing where this person wanted this to go.

But I hate when they deny telling something when I confront them.

Small fibs & big lies.

I have a friend ( a cop ) who is a compulsive liar & I'm not even going to go there.

I never bother confronting him over his lies as they are so numerous it would blow my mind and embarrass him.

Deleted.

Double post.

Last edited by MirrorWars on 11 Feb 2014, 12:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I do this- probably not as good at it as you or other people on here are. It's funny when my dad and I have political discussions and I say, "But when I was 9 years old you told me something in nearly direct contradiction to what you JUST said." It was when this first happened that I learned that opinions change as people age. What is more prominent in my life is remembering trivia facts and such. Two days ago my sibling was taking a quiz (We're homeschooled), and I actually remembered most of the answers from six years ago.

Also, it's pretty useful for vindicating yourself when someone accuses you of lying and yet you can cite a full conversation in detail while they can't, right down to the date and time of said conversation.

Yes, it is.

lol, people hate it when you quote them verbatim in an argument.

This is how it manifests in me, too. In addition to the exact words and inflections, I can recall exactly where we were and what we were doing, what angle the sun was at, if the birds were chirping or if there was traffic noise, etc. It's helpful at work for recalling things that people said in meetings, for example, but in personal conversations, it seems to incite more bad feelings than positive ones. Although it has come in handy a time or two when one of my friends misplaced an item, and I can backtrack the conversation to the point where they came in and where in the room they were when they put their keys down. It's like I have a video/audio recording in my head.

As someone else commented, it is mostly when it's a high-energy or high-emotion conversation. Or, more precisely, it had to have been a conversation that had my entire focus at the time.

Is that you- the girl in your avatar?

It's no good when people forget the conversations. I bring up 5 year old conversations and they have no idea what I'm talking about.

Thinking about it, another thing happened to me last week that is kind of connected to this topic.

I went into town to buy new tyres for the car & as I stood in the office of the place that I was getting them from I recognised the bloke who was about to serve me.

I used to hang around with him between 1989 and 1991.

So I acted really familiar with him, as if we'd last seen each other a couple of days earlier, but he looked at me like "Who the f*ck is this?".

The thing is that I remember everything about him and those times as if they happened yesterday. Where as he clearly doesn't.

He had to ask me my name and who I knew that he also knew. Then he vaguely remembered that he used to come to my house to pick me up in his car.

I can't understand how people forget the times we had and the people we knew.

Everything is still happening now, kind of, in my head.

All of the good and bad experiences of my life so far are still happening now inside my head.

I agree.

I have an accurate memory of past conversations. My mother's memories of past conversations shift dramatically over time, so it's interesting to see. I remember once I had my wisdom teeth out, and I asked if someone could get me yogurt, instant potatoes, and pudding (soft stuff that I had to eat for a few days). They got the yogurt and the pudding, but no potatoes, which meant no savory soft food for me because you can't really put that stuff in yogurt or pudding without it tasting funny (well, sweet pudding).

So a year later, my nephew needs soft food and they get him the instant potatoes, so I made a joke about it and my mother said that they did buy the potatoes, I just never used them. Which is so wrong it must have been a lie, but she refused to acknowledge anything but what she remembered, and called me crazy.

But I've had people tell me my recollection for what was said or done sounds practically eidetic to them, and I am often able to verify many conversations by referring back to online archives (as many such conversations happened online).

My therapist didn't remember conversations we'd had two weeks previously and I could give her a summary of every visit for nine months.

I kinda do that too. People sometimes ask, "how do you remember that?" I also remember events that people forget. But doesn't everybody?

Written and text messages, on the other hand.....(assuming you keep them for 5 years, I don't.)