Crouch's memory (was: Re: What is your all-time favorite line(s) from the book?)

[Grey Wolf <greywolf1@jazzfree.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51084

Elkins wrote:
[major snip]
> Of course, Crouch would have been unusually stressed and distracted 
> at the time that Percy started working for him.  Percy would have 
> started working for him at just about the same time that he would 
> have started fretting about Bertha Jorkins' disappearance.  I'm sure 
> that he was also feeling stressed about his plan to take his son to 
> the upcoming QWC.  And of course, he would have been very busy 
> plannning the Tournament, as well.  Given all of that, I guess that 
> maybe it's a little bit less surprising that his new employee's name 
> somehow never properly registered with him, although it still does 
> snap my suspenders of disbelief just a tiny bit.
> 
> It snaps my suspenders mainly, I think, because I just find it so 
> hard to believe that even under somewhat adverse circumstances, 
> Crouch wouldn't have been able to muster better interpersonal skills 
> than those we see him display in canon.  He *was* a successful 
> politician, after all, and while I myself share Meira's difficulty 
> with remembering people's names, successful politicians don't.  
> Successful politicians *learn* the trick of getting people's names 
> right -- and then of remembering them.  They also know that they're 
> supposed to sip the tea.  ;-)
>
>-- Elkins

I think you are overlooking something, Elkins. While all your points 
are valid, you are basing them in an asumption: that Crouch heard the 
name "Percy Weasley" at least once. I can easily imagine the situation 
where Percy is in his first day of the job, just another employee 
willing to prove himself, and his boss (Mr. Crouch himself) comes to 
see him (this being his first day and all). Crouch, somewhat distracted 
and going through the motions of what is, after all, something pretty 
common, politely asks "Mr. Weatherby, is it?" or something to that 
effect, and Percy, tongue tied and extremelly nervous, can only nod 
with an awed look in his face.

Thus, Crouch gets the impression that that red-haired guy is called 
Weatherby. He might even ask if he's related to the Weasleys, to which 
Percy would just nod again, but simply wouldn't be able to utter a 
word. And, of course, Percy wouldn't ever *dare* correct Mr. Crouch 
over some trivial matter such as his name (and notice he never does, in 
the books).

So Crouch is not an incompetent, or has failing memory. He simply got 
the name wrong the first time around (which is easy enough), and Percy 
simply never told him otherwise.

Now, the real interesting question is: how does an absolute newbie, 
that has been in the ministry for less than a year, manage to climb far 
enough to be Crouch's personal assistant and substitute when he is 
unavailable (for example, as Tournament judge)?

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf