I was at a work-related event today [actually, last month; these non-topical blog entries are on approximately one-month delay], but not connected to the statistics or political science departments. There were a few people there I knew well, and they were introducing me to others. Then at some point when I was talking with one of the more important people in the room, a sixtyish guy comes by and stands next to us. I put out my hand and introduce myself. He looks at me in puzzlement, spits out his first name, and without a pause starts talking to the person I’d been speaking with. After about a minute of talk, he walks away, and the important person and I continued our conversation.
No big deal . . . but, I have to admit, I haven’t had that experience very often recently. I’m often at events where I know everyone (or almost everyone) and they know me, and I’m also often at events where I know very few people and have to introduce myself. But it’s rare to be somewhere where I’m such an insignificant bug that someone sees me standing there and acts like I don’t exist!
I wasn’t offended, exactly, but it was an interesting experience. It’s good to occasionally be treated like a real nobody.
P.S. I figured out who the guy was, looked him up, and found out that he hasn’t published anything technical since 1983, so I doubt I would’ve had anything useful to offer to him.
Cool story, bro.
Maybe you’ve met before and he thought you would remember him?
totally nacissistic
But to make up for it, your book got recommended in a discussion at Open Mind, blog of a good time-series guy.
Damn, I was pretty sure the story would end by that guy being revealed to be Heckman.
That would have been brilliant!
A woman in academia, at least this one, is used to being rendered invisible—even more so as one in exile.
I once introduced a female grad student to one of our emeriti psychology faculty. He could not wait to ignore her and spend time asking her lawyer husband what he did or what he thought about this or that. The woman was a new student in the program. Welcome to academia sweetie!
So true…alternatively, without claiming this is typical, the great man might pay fawning attention in order to flirt, leer, sit next to at dinner….
As to the original post…ah asperger’s in academia…makes for some fun stats talk but so awkward at the cocktail hour.
anyone else think Gelman comes off as having a high opinion of himself in this story?
Gabe:
If you just now realized i have a high opinion of myself, you obviously haven’t been reading this blog very carefully! Of course I have a high opinion of myself; otherwise why would I be broadcasting my thoughts daily for over seven years???
Yeah, I’ve got to say that it is more notable when I don’t get that treatment. The worst was one time I happened to take my husband, an astronomer, along to dinner with a speaker. The speaker spent the whole dinner talking to my husband about the speaker’s modeling research on the grounds that “he was a quantitative sort.” I was a dual applied math/stats PhD working in the same field, sitting right there, AND my husband kept trying to include me in the conversation. But this guy would not have it. I am plenty outgoing and assertive, so it takes real effort to totally exclude me in these situations. But somehow, people manage.