In August of 2010, I’d been sent to China with a coworker, Eric, to train the affiliate’s staff to install some software. When we got to Amway China’s front desk, we found that no one there spoke English. They pointed at some chairs for us to sit in while they looked for someone to help. We had given them the name of our host but we only knew our host’s English name and they didn’t know folks’ English names.

As we waited, a couple approached the receptionist. As they spoke with her, they looked in our direction and became excited. They walked over to us and started talking and pointing at their cameras. They stood me up under the Amway sign. They took pictures of me, me and the woman, me and the man, me and the pair of them. Meanwhile, Eric had been granted the status of chopped liver.

After the pictures were done, they thanked me, I think, and walked away, animatedly chatting to themselves.

I wish I knew who they thought I was.