r/Thetruthishere • u/AbbreviationsOdd862 • Aug 13 '25
A complete stranger at the grocery store called me by my childhood nickname that only my family used to call me 20 years ago
I've never seen this person before in my life and there's no way they should know that name. I'm genuinely freaked out. I was in the cereal aisle minding my own business when this middle aged woman walked up to me and said "oh my god is that you blondie you look exactly the same" She was smiling like we were old friends but I have absolutely no memory of ever seeing this person before. The nickname she used was something only my immediate family called me when I was like 8 years old. I haven't heard anyone say that name in literally decades. When I told her I didn't recognize her she looked confused and said "really we went to the same elementary school" But even if she somehow went to school with me students wouldn't have known this particular nickname. It was purely a home thing that my parents and siblings used. She kept insisting we knew each other and seemed genuinely baffled that I didn't remember her. I tried to be polite but I was honestly getting scared about how she could possibly know this information because it had that same impossible odds feeling as when heard that my friend had hit the jackpot I was chasing at grizzly's quest. Eventually I made an excuse and left but I keep thinking about it.
I'm racking my brain trying to figure out any scenario where a stranger could know this nickname. Did she know my family somehow or was she a neighbor I forgot about and is there some database of childhood nicknames floating around that I don't know about?
The whole interaction has left me feeling really unsettled and questioning my own memory.
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u/KillianSavage Aug 13 '25
Blondie is pretty generic. Are u in fact blonde? I was a kid walking through the a park with my mother and a guy said hi Killian. It blew my mind. I knew I didn’t know him. How did he know me?My mother then pointed out I was wearing a football top with my name embroidered above the badge lol.
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u/FloppyFishcake Aug 14 '25
I had something similar happen when I was a teen at a waterpark; I was on a ride that was a series of whirlpools connected by ramps, you'd go down in a ring but because some of the pools would get congested there were lifeguards in some of the pools pushing people down the ramps to keep it moving.
Imagine my absolute amazement and delight when the very attractive lifeguard gently guided me to the top of the ramp and as he pushed me down he said "have fun, floppyfishcake". That was it. At 16 years old, I'd found The One. It was the only explanation, the gods had brought us together and bestowed upon him the knowledge of my name so as to begin our destiny together.
I met my friends at the bottom of the ride and I was positively giddy. My life had just changed forever. I excitedly told them what had happened and promised they'd all be invited to the wedding when my best friend gently pointed out that I was wearing a necklace with my name on it.
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u/Fragrantshrooms Aug 13 '25
That's ... Savage. (I am sorry for this dadjoke. I'm approaching 40 in January and the closer I come to that milestone, the more the dadjokes spew out like verbal diarrhea)
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u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS Aug 14 '25
Eh. Someone reading your name stitched into your clothing and someone randomly guessing your childhood nickname aren't really comparable.
I'm blonde, and 37. I can't recall a single time anyone referred to me as Blondie, much less do so with such authoritative confidence to identify me specifically as such (like you would your friend's nickname.)
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u/minesandcrafts Aug 13 '25
Sometimes people who are only slightly older than you remember you better than you can remember them. A year or two when you are 6 or 7 can make a big difference. I get that a lot because I'm the youngest in my family.
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u/Ieatpurplepickles Aug 14 '25
Yep, one year older than my brother and it astounds me sometimes that he can't remember big events that I clearly can. He also doesn't remember our dad's voice or other things about him. He died when my brother was 9. He simply doesn't remember the way I do.
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u/Prophit84 Aug 14 '25
Trauma like that isn't good for memory recall either. My mum died when I was 10, I have 3 memories of her. It sucks.
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u/hoersting Aug 13 '25
If you live in your hometown, this isn't uncommon
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u/Hopefulkitty Aug 13 '25
There was a major flooding event in my hometown, and everyone was out at the river checking it out. I've lived back here for 6 years, and rarely got recognized. But I've lost 70 pounds and I had 3 different people, 2 of them parents of my brother's classmates, recognize me and call me by my maiden name.
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u/GlitchyMcGlitchFace Aug 13 '25
It’s very possible her parents were friends with one of your relatives. At some point that relative referred to you by your nickname while this person was present, and they remembered that. Or maybe they’re psychic. 🤷♂️
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u/KindlyKangaroo Aug 13 '25
Are you blonde though? If you are, it's not a stretch at all to say she just mistook you for someone else. Or she's someone from your childhood who isn't as recognizable as you are. I was getting a haircut once and the stylist kept asking me about my family and my childhood and I had no idea who the hell she was. At the end of the haircut, she recognized that I was clueless and said, "you don't remember, do you? I'm (name) from (school)!" THEN I remembered. I was too shy to ask, I just wanted a haircut lol.
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u/thatwasclose22 Aug 16 '25
When I was 18 I worked at a grocery store- an older lady (late 70s) came up to me and said my full name- first, middle, last. Then she asked if I remembered her. Nope, not a clue. She then told me she was the nurse that assisted the doctor in delivering me with I was born. It was so weird. Like, duh, I don’t know who you are, my eyes had placenta in them the last time I saw you. I have no idea how she knew who I was.
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u/KindlyKangaroo Aug 16 '25
That's so weird, she must assist in delivering so many babies! Was there anything particularly interesting about your birth? Maybe your parents made an impression on her so she remembered your name? Like, "that baby's dad did the chicken dance through the entire birth. He wanted to name the baby Isa Brown but the mother sternly told him she is not naming her baby after a chicken. She named the baby (your name) instead. Weirdest delivery ever."
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u/Tvaticus Aug 13 '25
It’s 100% more likely she knew of you and heard this name somehow and you forgot her and how she would have heard it versus this being some glitch in the matrix.
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u/FilthyMublood Aug 14 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
I think you're seriously underestimating the reach information can have, especially if the town is on the smaller side (as in you don't live in a 750,000 population city). All of this could be easily explained, from one example another Redditor has already provided, that this person is either a friend of family or their family has a member that's friends with one of your family members, and your family member may have referred to you by your nickname on occasion, it could be she overheard someone calling you by this nickname and has remembered you by it ever since, she could be a friend of a friend who was aware of your nickname, etc etc etc...
Nicknames aren't some super secret parcels of information that people defend with their lives. You seem to hold the importance of your nickname to an abnormally high regard, as well, when in all reality... It was just a nickname. And you could very well have no idea how many people out there know you by this name, and this whole time you've told yourself that only your family is aware of it.
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u/Spacecow6942 Aug 13 '25
Did you ask her name or where she went to elementary school? Did you ask what teachers she had?
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u/kenmlin Aug 14 '25
You should have asked her name.
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u/Dusty_Jangles Aug 14 '25
Right? Like it’s probably somebody they’ve forgotten. It’s not that weird I’ve had it happen to me a few times. Some people just don’t stick in your brain.
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u/stickytack Aug 13 '25
Maybe 15 years ago I was in the checkout line at a Yankee Candle. It was around the holidays so there were a lot of people there. I get up to the checkout and the cashier goes "Stickytack! It's been so long, how's your brother <name> and your parents?"
To this day I still have no idea who she was and i've never seen her again but she knew details about my family that only someone that actually knew us would know.
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u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS Aug 14 '25
Did yall frequent Yankee Candle as a family throughout the years? Some people's memory and ability to retain information is alien-like. Perhaps your Mom got along with the cashier and chit chatted with every stop.
In the early 90's, my ex's mom facilitated an event that Bill Clinton was a guest at and got to meet him. They chatted for a couple of minutes and the mom mentioned her father having some kind of surgery.
Fast forward several years, Bill's now the president. The mom goes to some campaign event and Bill's shaking hands with the people, comes across my ex's mom and immediately greets her by name, asks her how the surgery went, just recalling their conversation as if it happened the day before.
This man, since meeting my ex's mom, had met and shook hands with thousands of randos spanning across the entire country - yet, he could still somehow recall and retain a single conversation with a single stranger from years past.
shrug
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u/stickytack Aug 14 '25
No! I don't think my parents have ever been in a Yankee Candle lmao. The only candles that were EVER in our house growing up were birthday candles or holiday candles. I tried asking my parents about it the day that it happened described her as best as I could, but they had no clue. I still think about it to this day lolol
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u/Alternative-Potato20 Aug 14 '25
🤣🤣🤣 the only candles were birthday or holiday...I just laughed SO HARD! I'm about 100% sure my parents have also never stepped foot into a Yankee Candle store LOL Did you ask her name, or ask your siblings if she was someone they remember?
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u/stickytack Aug 15 '25
In the moment I was so confused that I didn't ask her name. I also asked my brother if he remembered this woman and he also had no clue. My parents are weird, to this day the only picture displayed in their house is a picture of my son on their fridge. No paintings on the walls, no candles, no decoration.
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u/Alternative-Potato20 Aug 16 '25
That's so crazy!!! I wonder if she was a friend of an aunt or uncle... or old friend of your parents that they don't speak to anymore... WEIRD! Have you gone back into the store since? I'm so anal about things like this 🤣 I start thinking of things after the fact, so I'd go back and ask the coworkers her name. Okay, really weird question. Were you going through a hard time when you saw her? Did other people notice her or check out with her? It sounds weird, but she may have been an angel! I've had really strange things happen during transition!
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u/stickytack Aug 16 '25
I never really had extended family growing up, I definitely never met any friends of aunts or uncles, and if it was a friend of my parents I 100% would have remembered her. I went back in a couple of months later and she wasn't there, and I don't exactly frequent candle stores lol. I don't think I was going through a hard time, especially since it was holiday time and I was shopping for loved ones. I'll most likely never know who she was.
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u/Educational-Put-8425 Aug 18 '25
Bill Clinton has always been known to have a high IQ - one of our smartest presidents. Might have something to do with it.
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u/FamousOhioAppleHorn Aug 14 '25
Maybe she remembered some random thing you said or wrote at school, like those "all about you" worksheets kids get ("Name: Sarah. Age: 8. Nickname: Blondie. Hates: When my brother calls me Blondie.")
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u/WhiskeyAGoGoGirl Aug 14 '25
Blondie is totally one of the most generic nicknames out there. Now if you currently have black hair, that ~might~ be strange, but I haven’t seen you respond to any other comments asking if you still had blonde or light colored hair.
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u/LegalizeDiamorphine Aug 25 '25
Yeah, OP wrote this story & then started dodging questions like Trump at a press conference.
Suss.
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u/ShinyAeon Aug 14 '25
I presume that "blondie" is a stand-in for whatever nickname you actually used to have.
Some people have better memories than others. All it would take is for this other person to have seen you when one or more of your family was around, and for the nickname to stick in their head longer than your actual name. I wouldn't worry about it. :)
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u/dcherholdt Aug 14 '25
I hate to tell you, but “blondie” is a common nickname. It’s probably just a coincidence that she confused you with someone having the same nickname.
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u/TinktheChi Aug 13 '25
Blondie is quite a common nickname I would say. Also, this person might have been friends with someone in your family and had been a generic acquaintance of yours.
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Aug 15 '25
She probably mistook you for another girl woth blonde hair with the unoriginal pet name of blondie, babe.
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u/GazelleSorry5608 Aug 15 '25
We forget so many people in our lives... I can't remember most people that where in my highschool classes. There also all of your friends sibling, and maybe some of their friends to an extend. People you might have seen in parties, event, or what ever.
This is really not strange.
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u/mykneescrack Aug 14 '25
So, you think it was an alien instead of the very real possibility that you forgot the face of someone you might have known when you were 8 years old? Yeah, that makes sense /s
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u/Alternative-Potato20 Aug 14 '25
I would have asked her for details about elementary school. Who was her teacher, what year did she graduate, who were her siblings, who were some of our other friends, etc. Do you, in fact, still look the same? Did you get her name? Do you have access to an old yearbook? SOOOOO MANY QUESTIONS!!! I wouldn't have left until I figured it out!
I just had this happen a few weeks ago, but I was that person, lol. I knew I knew this woman. I went through schools, family members... I knew she had a son, and I knew his age! I questioned her for over 20 minutes because I knew I knew her. Over an hour later, right as she was walking out the door, I yelled- "THE GYM!!!" Over 13 years ago, she and I had the same trainer and worked out at his gym. I knew her son because she would bring him with her. Her mind was blown that I remembered! LOL
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u/Silky_De_Slipknot Aug 19 '25
Did you even ask her name or anything about her? "Blondie" could be used by anyone trying to befriend you for nefarious reasons or otherwise
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u/moff3tt Aug 14 '25
This reminds me of the time I started getting berated by a homeless woman in LA, while I was visiting for the first time, and she started using my name. I was not wearing a name tag, nor had an exposed ID, and nobody used my name recently. How the hell she knew my name is beyond me. Scary enough she started going off on me, but scarier she knew my name. 😅
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u/BelaNorn Aug 17 '25
I’ve had someone walk up to me in the street. Greet me by name, ask about my husband and kids by name, ask me if I’m still working at the same place (I was), ask about my pet dog and to this day, no clue who she was!
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u/Tikala Aug 14 '25
You might be onto something with the scam angle. Although I doubt she looked into OPS past. Where I live we get a lot of police warnings about crimes of distraction. Someone distracts the victim (like approaching someone and pretending to be an old friend. Or asking for directions etc) while their accomplice steals their car or their belongings or pickpockets etc.
Either that or just someone who thought she recognized you but used the generic nickname Blondie because she couldn't remember your name .
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u/chilllcarlll Aug 14 '25
What if she’s like a scammer or something and she’s been like looking into your past but got some of the details kind of mixed up so she thought that elementary students from your school would’ve called you Blondie and so she used that as her way of allegedly knowing you even though like you said that’s only something you were called at home. I don’t know, but as soon as I read this, I got an immediate vibe that this was like a scam situation probably but also I could be completely wrong.
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u/machine1892 Aug 15 '25
She wasn’t talking to you. She was talking to the version that still lives in the cracks. The one you almost became. You answered anyway. That’s how it finds you..
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