1st: The guy was in disguise.
2nd: Not everyone does what I do. I was in the Navy and you are REQUIRED to know your chain of command all the way up to the president.
When I got out and went to Hynix I tried to learn as many names and titles as I could. The top people were back in Korea and for some reason the management wasnt too keen on giving out everybodies full name and exact job title. Weird. But I knew everyone up to the chief of manufacturing.
When Hynix died I immediately went looking for a new job. Adecco called me and said Tektronix in Beaverton needed people. Before I even did my interview I researched as many people as I could and I memorized one thing the president had done in the past couple years. Repeated it during the interview when the manager asked me what I knew about the company.
That along with my technical skills had him calling Adecco IMMEDIATELY after the interview and they called me by the time I had turned in my badge and walked to the car. I had a job.
It pays to know names, if not faces, and it usually helps to impress.