A Who’s Who
My strategy for remembering names is quite simple: REALLY concentrate when you meet people (Perspective, February 15). I’ve found . . . that I was only half concentrating in social situations, just out of habit and plain old laziness. So, I focus and really pay attention when the introductions are going down. It doesn’t hurt to repeat the names a few times in your head, but otherwise no elaborate tricks.
Mark123
posted on bostonglobe.com
A tip I learned from my Dale Carnegie training years ago was to associate someone’s name with one of their physical characteristics: Betty with blond hair. Short Sarah. Mustache Mike. When you meet Mike, you say in your head: Mike with the mustache, and next time you see Mike, you’ll remember his name. Unless, of course, he has shaved off his mustache!
ForPete’sSake
posted on bostonglobe.com
Sadly, remembering names (and a lot of things) gets harder at 75. One aid to fight back is to watch Wheel of Fortune and such word puzzles. It is doubly gratifying when you get the answer before the contestants!
Vox Pop
posted on bostonglobe.com
I am 76 and a long-term substitute teacher in an elementary school. I am an advocate for and practitioner of “multisensory learning.” It helps to repeat students’ names (auditory memory), look at their name cards on their desks (visual memory), and write or type their names (bodily-kinesthetic or motor memory).
orlo1949
posted on bostonglobe.com
Play pickleball doubles. You meet tons of people and everyone is apologizing about forgetting your name.
Owlish
posted on bostonglobe.com
When I see someone who asks me for my name after forgetting, I feel happy and grateful: they care enough about me to ask my name again, to really get to know me, instead of pretending and being fake. When I tell someone my name and they immediately say, “I don’t remember names,” I feel as though they are blowing me off at first meeting and really don’t want to know me. If you forget, please ask me again.
Claykid
posted on bostonglobe.com
Joined Together
Was waiting for an Office Space reference the red Swingline stapler (The Big Day, February 15). Great story. Goes from high school angst to wedding day.
Timster
posted on bostonglobe.com
A couple that has their dog, especially a Bernese mountain dog (lovable, sensitive, loyal), as their flower boy and witness tells me all I need to know: that they are perfect for one another. Reading about two people who have worked hard and are so accomplished and supportive of each other is very uplifting.
yogafriend
posted on bostonglobe.com
Lovely story. Hard-working people, wonderful celebration of culture, family, but where is the photo of Benito, the drink-serving donkey?
ryenow
posted on bostonglobe.com
Peak Design
Beautiful, calm, and I love the contemporary style that echoes the mountains (Your Home: “In From the Snow,” February 15, pictured above). Especially like the bedroom chandelier, which looks like tree branches covered in icicles. I must admit when I see built-in beds like the bunk room I am glad I don’t have to make those! Overall, it’s stylish, cozy, and serene.
CapeCodtownie
posted on bostonglobe.com
I love the birch wallpaper in the bunk room and bathroom. Perfect for a ski house. This family loves texture and the team that put it together delivered!
WorstCookEver
posted on bostonglobe.com
I wish there had been a photo of the house on the outside that inspired the inside. How do they ever leave such beauty and coziness?
GoldaCat
posted on bostonglobe.com
This slopeside home in Maine blends seamlessly with its natural surroundings. It seems to be a natural fit for a family of six skiers, or simply lovers of nature and beautiful architecture.
skerrigan
posted on bostonglobe.com
Character-Building
This has to be the nicest house I’ve ever seen in The Boston Globe (Your Home: “Drenched in History,” February 15). I like everything about it! It’s brimming with character, color, and comfort (and William Morris, my favorite). Is it possible that the make-it-gray trend will leave us forever? This house gives me hope.
2Bostonians
posted on bostonglobe.com
Absolutely gorgeous. Maybe the couple in Milton with the Colonial (Your Home, “Welcome Home,” February 15) should give [featured designer] Linda Weisberg a call.
6thGenNHGal
posted on bostonglobe.com
Come Into Bloom
I stopped at [Connections writer David Abel’s] family store at least a dozen times in the ’90s and early 2000s to buy hostess bouquets or plants when coming in to the city for a visit, and never got a bad bunch in all that time. I’m sorry to say I don’t remember more than that whoever was working was friendly and efficient, but [the shop’s] flowers adorned many a table, and I was sorry when the business closed. Small businesses like these are where humanity in all its gristle and glory and shame connect — and misconnect, without all the upselling and false polish of a corporate chain. Sometimes, you just want to buy some nice flowers.
02115
posted on bostonglobe.com
What a wonderful start in life [Abel’s family gave him]! Connections is like a little reward for reading the Sunday newspaper.
justmom
posted on bostonglobe.com
Cashing In
I too pay cash for purchases, although admittedly not to the extent writer Andy Levinsky does (Perspective, February 22). My general practice is to pay cash for purchases of $20 or less, certainly for purchases of $10 or less. It makes no sense whatsoever to use a credit card to pay $6-$7 or less, because most of that will go toward the credit-card and bank fees, thereby depriving the business of income. In a similar approach, I use checks for donations so that the organization gets all of the money, instead of a chunk going for fees. For smaller organizations with tight operating margins, every dollar counts.
LS Ridgway
Boston
According to state law, it is illegal to “discriminate against a cash buyer by requiring the use of credit.” It’s easy to think of a single venue here in our Bay State that has millions, yes, millions, of transactions annually where only credit cards are allowed: Fenway Park — with 81 home games, many concerts, and other events. Try using cash at our big league ballpark — good luck. (Yes, this is the venue where Boston Globe and Boston Red Sox owner John Henry has ownership.) What’s wrong with this picture?
Tom Caldwell
Concord
Recently, two vendors, a large local real estate company and a landscape company, had a fee on their invoices if I paid with a credit card. I sent the wording of the state law to the owners and they withdrew the fees immediately. And I’m sure they are still hitting non-aware customers with the fee.
Hank Stanucci
Boston
Glad to see this piece. I will not trade with stores (like my Whole Foods) that do not offer cash as an option in self-checkout.
Carol Lundquist
Boston
I use cash frequently and often get a look from the person at the register like they don’t know what to do. I too will stand at a longer line to be at a checkout with a person instead of a machine. I will continue to pay with cash as much as possible, and have laughed at friends who have had to rely on me for cash when going to cash-only diners.
Jim Vogel
West Roxbury
I’m the customer who always uses a credit card, if possible. I get cash back from the company and use it to pay down my account. This can be sizeable when purchasing pricey items that you would have written a check for. Or, how about the fact that you don’t have to carry a LOT of cash around, like to the grocery store these days? I’ll use my credit card, and let Visa pay me back!
Nancy Redmond
Plymouth
“Do you take cash?” is what I often jokingly ask the cashier as I hand over my paper money.
Susan Evans
Carlisle
Five years ago I might’ve agreed with the author, but I’m totally anti-cash these days. No germy coins or bills to handle, and paying by card has become much easier. Nothing to sign, no buttons to push! I do have an ongoing gripe with self-checkout kiosks, however. If I’m going to do a company’s work for them, I feel I deserve to be paid. If stores offered even 25 cents off every time we use self-checkout, that prospect would be a whole lot more appealing.
Rich Feinberg
West Roxbury
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