Tonight, Denise and I went to a friend's concert at a local bar. When we arrived, he was outside smoking with the rest of the band as well as a few others. We did the bise with him and the other members of the band who I think we met before. One of the other guys stepped forward towards me. I didn't know who he was, but I almost did the bise with him as well thinking that maybe I had met him before or since he's friends with the guys, it's the natural thing to do. Good thing I hesitated!
Guy: You don't recognize me? (He used the formal "you" in French which is odd based on the bar context and that he was with a friend of mine.)
Me: Uhh... no...
Guy: I'm your student!
Me: Oh, shit!
I immediately covered my mouth in embarrassment. It only took me two seconds to realize who he was. In my defense, it was dark. It was out of context. And he only came to class the last few times (probably when he realized how screwed he was for the TOEIC exam). Before that, I had never seen him before.
So, I didn't recognize one of my students. Oops. But on the upside, at least I didn't actually lean in and do the bise which I came very close to doing!
That's totally the sort of thing I would do - I'm terrible at recognising people, and still a bit iffy about the bise. Not so much at bars and so on, but I've had people I've never met before bise me at work, which is kinda weird. Then there's the old guy who bises the other two women (one of whom has been there less time than me) but not me. Not that I want to bise him, but hey, eff you too.
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