Yesterday, I was confronted with the news that someone in the organisation who recently left was being replaced by someone I was pretty sure was a name from my past.
I was right about that, but I affixed the name to the wrong person.
It's not the biggest deal -- the latter was lots more senior than the name's true owner but in a completely different field -- but the fact that I had a bit of a pessimistic view of the appointment has, strangely, not been changed by my realisation of the mistaken identity. The person to whom the name belongs used to use me and my then boss (we're going back a couple of decades here) for technical advice on IT strategy which, if my admittedly faulty memory isn't leading me too far astray, he used to comprehensively ignore.
I feel irrationally embarrassed at having mixed him up, strangely, even though I misidentified him in a relatively secure environment and nobody would probably have known either way anyway.
He's taking on a poisoned chalice, though: better him than me.
I was right about that, but I affixed the name to the wrong person.
It's not the biggest deal -- the latter was lots more senior than the name's true owner but in a completely different field -- but the fact that I had a bit of a pessimistic view of the appointment has, strangely, not been changed by my realisation of the mistaken identity. The person to whom the name belongs used to use me and my then boss (we're going back a couple of decades here) for technical advice on IT strategy which, if my admittedly faulty memory isn't leading me too far astray, he used to comprehensively ignore.
I feel irrationally embarrassed at having mixed him up, strangely, even though I misidentified him in a relatively secure environment and nobody would probably have known either way anyway.
He's taking on a poisoned chalice, though: better him than me.
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