Because I am so remarkably average except for my grotesquely huge head, I've been mistaken for other remarkably average people. I used to work with a guy named Gary, who was a really good friend. I would say there was some similarity between us as to body type. I'm about half a head taller and, back then, wore glasses, whereas Gary didn't. We dressed in white button-down shirts and ties, and our sleeves were inevitably rolled up. It was funny to us that people would so often confuse one of us for the other because, to one another, we looked nothing alike.
Some people think my nephew and I look alike, but he, to me, looks like his father, my late brother-in-law.
When I am clean-shaven, people sometimes say that I look like Jay Leno because I have that long upper lip, odd-looking mouth and a big chin. From the nose up, we look nothing alike. That's another reason I grew my mustache back.
That, too, has an interesting effect.
I was in Home Depot last night, and we were joking with the clerks at the check-out. One of the ladies said to me, "You look like that guy on television. You know, the one who has the car show." I had no idea who she was talking about. "He goes around and looks at old cars. Yes, you know." I explained that the only time I see cable or satellite television is when we travel. But my curiosity was piqued.
I have a big, white horseshoe mustache. This guy has a big, white HANDLEBAR mustache, but I'm pretty sure he is who she meant -- and look who he is talking to.
The point is not so much that I look like a pathetic old fart -- as true as that is, but that people tend to focus on prominent, distinguishing features. Growing or shaving off a mustache isn't going to fool your family or facial recognition software, but it may throw off most people should you need to go incognito.
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