We’ve all done it. Tends to get worse as you get older. Or if you’re popular and meet a lot of people. You are greeted by someone who may, or may not, look familiar, and they know you but you do not know them.

What’s the smoothest way to handle it. LifeHacker recently offered some suggestions. Although the number one tip is to be honest and say, hey, sorry, I’m not good with names, if you’ve been doing stuff with them for years and still don’t have name recall, you might get try some craftier methods.

On a recent Reddit thread, users offered a variety of tips. U/GrahamCr5ck3r offered this up:

• Hand them your phone and ask for their contact information, but try not to be too random; if it’s for a job interview, or professional situation, ask for their email address instead – even if their whole name isn’t in it perhaps it will jog that sluggish memory of yours (and hey, you can always ask for a business card)
• u/lurkerspeaks used another strategy when he ran into an acquaintance, telling him to send a text because he’d gotten a new phone and lost all his contacts. Yes, a lie, but a White One.
• If in a social setting, introduce this unknown person to someone you do know

If you have any other fresh ideas, please share. We’d like to hear. It’s a big world, working on 8 billion population.

Remember, people! But if you don’t, be smooth!