It's easy to say someone can sit there and be a good listener, but most times they do not understand what being a good listener entails. Remembering what you were just told has a lot to do with being a good listener. Yes I can sit by your side while you spill your guts and vent about your recent personal life issues and I can offer my opinions and or concerns, but if I don't retain anything that was just told to me... I can't consider myself to be a good listener.
I try as much as possible to remember everything that was told to me. It means the world when someone actually remembers what you say. Just shows that they gave a damn the first time you said it. I hate repeating myself 10x over. I don't expect people to remember every single thing that others tell them, for cripes sake that would be crazy. We all have our own shit on our plate and our own important things to remember. But if you're going to ask a friend what's wrong or a significant other to share their feelings and thoughts you best be ready to listen and remember what is gonna come spewing out of their mouths. And if you end up forgetting what you just asked to have dumped in your lap, well, that will make the "sharer" feel like they want to never share things with you again. right?
I've had that so much in my life makes me wonder if it's me who is uninteresting, me who people don't care to listen to, me who people find the things that I have to say so boring that they bother not to remember anything that comes out of my mouth no matter how important it is to me, like how to pronounce or spell my fuckin' name. Although it still annoys the shit out of me, I've come to terms with it. It is what it is.
I was telling someone recently that I'll admit, I don't remember everything that people tell me, but if I feel it is of great importance, I will write it down. I don't knock anyone for not having a good memory, I just knock them for not making that effort to make sure you remember what you were just told. Shows they don't care and really in the end its something that makes me lose interest and drift away, but not until after I've sat through it a while to see if it's something I can get over. I usually never do get over it. But you must be careful with me because I will play it off like it doesn't bother me or that I never told you in the first place.
