But I Thought We Had A Connection!

OK, first of all, the host finally got back to me, and she didn't think I was the one ordering food, so for right now, calamity averted.  Now then ...

One of the weird things about working at these test scoring places are seeing faces that are familiar.  But the thing is, even though you know you've seen them before because they've worked on the same projects, and they might have even talked to you extensively, they are not friends.  In fact, because you are shuttled from project to project in a job that usually lasts from March till June, you're not really co-workers.  You're temps stuck in the same building, essentially.

Here's my question: When should you say hi to these people?  Through seven seasons I can recognize face after face of people who I had interacted with, sometimes, frequently, when we were working the same room together.  But even today, when I cross these people in the hallway, we barely glance at each other.  It's as though it was my first day.

Case in point: Last week, in the hallway, I saw this guy, remember him?  We sat next to each other for two months, an eternity in test scoring projects.  We talked about everything from the essays we were working on to old relatives.  We got deep, man.  So, during a break, when I crossed paths with him, when he was walking right across my path to get to the bathroom, I waved to him ... and he just looked at me, then past me, and then kept right on walking.  Like I was but an apparition.  That still spooks me.  Did he totally forget who I was, even though it's been only ten weeks since we last sat together?  Can't be.  Did he not ever like me, and so all those in-depth conversations were only lies?  Or did I somehow do something wrong and piss him off -- such as blogging about him here?

The other case in point: I went into the men's room to pee.  A bit later another man comes in.  I recognize him as my immediate supervisor on the last project I did for this company.  That got done almost a month ago.  But I think we'd still recognize each other, or at least say hi while washing our hands.  So in anticipation of that, I take out one of my ear plugs.  But through all the hand-washing and hand-drying, he didn't speak a word to me.  He didn't even look my way.  He just washed his hands and left.  As if he had never met me before.

I thought it was weird and even rude at first.  But I have to admit I haven't been the most magnanimous guy there either.  I am certain that I have not made eye contact with people who remember me from the room we were working in on projects three, five, seven years ago.  I just don't remember them.  And that's what sucks: There's a chance that of the people who are working on projects in my current building right now, I have worked on the same project with, oh, 80% of them.  And yet because we're all temps trading deck chairs on the Titanic I'm supposed to wipe my memory of them, even if I thought we were sort-of friends?  Apparently, the answer -- from their end and my end -- is yes.