A Memory for All Seasonings
One evening two years ago, Peter Polson, a member of the psychology
department at the University of Colorado, took his son and daughter to dinner
at Bananas, a fashionable restaurant in Boulder. When the waiter took their
orders, Polson noticed that the young man didn’t write anything down. He just
listened, made small talk, told them that his name was John Conrad, and left.
Polson didn’t think this was exceptional: There were, after all, only three of
them at the table. Yet he found himself watching Conrad closely when he
returned to take the orders at a nearby table of eight. Again the waiter listened,
chatted, and wrote nothing down. When he brought Polson and his children
their dinners, the professor couldn’t resist introducing himself and telling
Conrad that he’d been observing him.