A dog lover has divided the internet after forgetting one crucial thing about her neighbours - their names.
Some branded the pet owner rude after one of her neighbours seemed shocked that she only knew people in her area by the name of their dogs.
The user asked the Reddit community ‘am I the a**hole?’, and while some people fell victim to the same memory lapse - others thought it was rather rude not to re-ask.
The user explained: “I'm not at all sociable. Fortunately, my dog is sociable, so when I meet neighbours and other dog walkers out walking, most polite chat is dog oriented. As a result, I know all of their pets' names but not the humans' names”
The poster, who wrote under the username purplewomat , has regularly spoken to her neighbours for ‘years’, but is only able to remember the names of their pets.
She added: “I remember most of what they tell me about themselves and their dogs. Medical history, ongoing lawsuits, in law issues, burglaries - I'm a good listener because I don't talk much, people prattle on - but, for the life of me, I can't remember their names. Only their dog's names.”
But one neighbour pulled her up on the faux pas after asking the name of another resident’s dog in order to understand who their conversation was about.
They told Reddit: “Today, I encountered one of the more socially powerful (owns a lot of land around here) neighbours and she was telling me something about some other neighbour who I've apparently known for seven years. In the end, I had to flat out ask her the names of this person's dogs so I knew who she was talking about.
“She gave me this look . She didn't know the name of the 'dog', she knew the neighbour's name. “She was too polite to say so but it was clear that she thought me an a**hole for knowing the animal's name and not the human's. Am I the a**hole for only remembering the names of my neighbour's pets?”
Other animal lovers were quick to defend the original poster, saying that’s just how things are with pet owners.
One said: “That's how we roll in my neighbourhood. There's Buddy's mom, Zoe's dad, etc.”
Another wrote: “Agree. Here it’s Mr. Luna, Mrs. Nala.”
One person even got a job thanks to having seen their neighbour-turned-manager in the dog park each weekend.
“My husband once got a job because he knew the hiring manager from the dog park,” they said. “They didn’t recognize each other’s names at all, so when they got face to face it was, “Oh, you’re Fido’s dad!” “You’re Max’s dad!” They had seen each other every Saturday morning for two years!”
One of the users offered a plausible explanation why people may be so bad at remembering the names of the dog owners - whilst being able to recall the name of their furry friend in a heartbeat.
They said: “A lot of us are the same way! Here’s the reason: When you see people with their dogs, they SAY the dog’s name repeatedly but they don’t ever repeat their own name.”
However, some argued that they original poster should have tried harder to make an effort to learn their neighbours names.
One said: “You've met these people regularly for years but can't be bothered to even remember their first names. That's pretty rude and dismissive of them as people, when they have attempted to involve you in the community and be friendly.”
Another wrote: “You could have re-asked at the beginning of these very casual relationships.”
