I am the same way, which is strang bc i generally care about people and you'd think i'd be able to remember names easily.
INFJ forgetfulness
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At my job there's one key for the money room that like 10 people have to share. Every single time I close, I take the key with me. And at least three days a week I walk out of the house without my bus pass. Sometimes I walk to a room and forget why I'm there.
But I have an excellent memory for terms (grammar terms esp for some reason) and for details about people.
But I have an excellent memory for terms (grammar terms esp for some reason) and for details about people.
I'd say that at least 75% of what I intend to do in a daily basis tends to go undone because I get there and can't remember why I embarked in the first place. This has led to many occasions where I sit in my car in a parking lot, staring at the nearest object to me with a disconcerted facial expression while trying to remember why I just drove half an hour to get to this particular place.
I'm great with faces and names, but I'm very slow with the latter. When I was student-teaching, my mentor teacher criticized me for not having each and every name down within a few days like she did (she was clearly an ExFP), but it only took me an extra week to do so. However, I never forgot any aspect once I knew them. I knew the first, middle, and last, and how to spell each (even the more creatively spelled ones), whereas my Mentor could have had trouble spelling "Bob." By the end of the year, I had to read everything she wrote to students and their parents because she'd never get their names right.
I'm excellent at remembering appointments (this ties into my Fe; I feel immeasurable guilt if I make someone else experience inconvenience because of my forgetfulness) and, as long as nothing has been shifted, I can easily find a needle in a haystack so long as it is where I left it. I know the way my mind and behaviors work, so I can find my keys even if my bedroom looks like its been harboring the fugitive Hurricane Katrina and even if they've succumbed to gravity, because I know the general area. But if someone throws a wrench into my routine, I'll never find them in time. This used to confuse my friends and teachers because I never used folders or organized my backpack during school, but I could reach into my bag blindly and pull out my homework with about 95% efficiency. I knew the order in which I did the homework and placed it back into the abyss of my bag, so I knew approximately where in the bag it was and what would have been before it.
I'm great with faces and names, but I'm very slow with the latter. When I was student-teaching, my mentor teacher criticized me for not having each and every name down within a few days like she did (she was clearly an ExFP), but it only took me an extra week to do so. However, I never forgot any aspect once I knew them. I knew the first, middle, and last, and how to spell each (even the more creatively spelled ones), whereas my Mentor could have had trouble spelling "Bob." By the end of the year, I had to read everything she wrote to students and their parents because she'd never get their names right.
I'm excellent at remembering appointments (this ties into my Fe; I feel immeasurable guilt if I make someone else experience inconvenience because of my forgetfulness) and, as long as nothing has been shifted, I can easily find a needle in a haystack so long as it is where I left it. I know the way my mind and behaviors work, so I can find my keys even if my bedroom looks like its been harboring the fugitive Hurricane Katrina and even if they've succumbed to gravity, because I know the general area. But if someone throws a wrench into my routine, I'll never find them in time. This used to confuse my friends and teachers because I never used folders or organized my backpack during school, but I could reach into my bag blindly and pull out my homework with about 95% efficiency. I knew the order in which I did the homework and placed it back into the abyss of my bag, so I knew approximately where in the bag it was and what would have been before it.
ooh i like your forum name, ETHEREAL.. i like that word.. and yes i do think that infjs are forgetful it makes me laugh. It is really frustrating because we abhor looking incompetent; at least i do, i hate driving to places because no matter how simple the directions to get somewhere i will forget. The trick for me now is to allow my intuition to guide me to the location, everytime i allow it to roam freely it works, when i start over analyzing and rereading directions etc. that leads to chaos. When i go to the supermarket for groceries i end up having all kinds of thoughts ruminating through my mind, that i do end up grabbing the wrong product and come home to a household in disbelief of my forgetfulness.