I do not remember my life and it's fine

I do have a list of attributes in my head for things. Things like cars are, in my opinion, not the best example since everyone has seen a car, say, millions of times (that's weird to think about). So the list of attributes is both large and constantly "refreshed" - not unlike dynamic RAM.

However, relatively unique objects, in terms of sightings, have a much shorter list. Not only is the list short, it may be inaccurate. This can lead to, as an absurd example, thinking a car has five wheels and they're on top of the car.

One of the reasons these phenomena seem incredible (as in credibility), I think, is that people don't tend to draw cars as a heap of possibly incorrect attributes. If I drew you a box which encased four wheels, a steering wheel, panes of glass, and doors all randomly placed and called it a car, you'd not be wrong to suggest I see a physician. However, I still have a functioning brain which has experienced reality. I can piece together a short list of attributes because I know that wheels roll, objects have mass, and gravity pulls all towards the grave.

Another way to think about this which is maybe more accessible (although analogues are never perfect) is language. Everyone occasionally encounters words that they're aware of but don't know the meaning of or have assigned an incorrect meaning. That doesn't mean they can't see, hear, or write the word. It's just that, if you press them on it, they either can't give you a definition or they produce an incorrect definition. To continue the analogy, if you know enough about a language, you can give a good guess at an unknown word based on your experience with other words.

Obviously this is just my experience, and I hope this along with the other comments sheds some light on the topic.

Name a time I had an angry customer? Lol, like, all the time forever? I almost feel like this one must be a trick question designed to catch people who can't deal with the job. I forget about such customers as immediately as possible. As a matter of fact, over the years I've relied on my ability to not reflect other people's temperature or allow their demeanor to take up a lot of space in my field of attention in the first place. I'm not sure if anyone with good chances of coping in this line of work [IT/support/sysadmin was the context when I originally posted this self-quote elsewhere] should really have any honest answers to this question readily available.

I can only name one time I had an angry customer, but obviously I've had countless angry customers. I can name that time because he left a voicemail like four minutes long ranting about how unacceptable it was that we had a full call queue and that he was asked to leave a voicemail, and demanding to be put in touch with various executives. I keep that one in the toolkit because it's easy to twist into inspiring stories about above-and-beyond customer service, or taking ownership, or whatever.

How do I explain something technical to a customer in simpler terms? It's not just me, is it? These seem patently ridiculous, like if they had bothered to do some kind of trial run or think for 30 seconds about how they might answer them, they would have realized...

Or is it just me? Does everyone else have an overt methodology for doing this that they can articulate on demand? I would probably come off like some kind of idiot in that interview. Uh, I dunno. I guess I, like, you know, use the context of the interaction so far to gauge their likely understanding of the salient points? And I audit the explanation for unnecessary tangents and jargon and opaque concepts? I then tailor the explanation to what they need to know and what I think they'll understand in the most useful way in that context? So I guess, in a nutshell, I would say that I explain something technical to a customer in simpler terms by just, like, doing it. This is, like, a bespoke service, sir, perhaps you should try the TJ Maxx down the way.

How do I deal with different personality types? I just, like, do it? This feels like another one where having an answer is a red flag. I've never needed to handle this overtly/consciously either, and I think that's a good sign.

Can I give an example of a situation where I had to go above and beyond for a user? No, and I don't think you grasp the core concept of "above and beyond". If you want some stories about times I didn't have to, let me know.

Edit: Actually, you know what, I do have one of when I "had to go above and beyond" but probably not in the way they're hoping for: https://i.vgy.me/7ZAwjj.jpg

Where do I rate my office suite skills on a scale of 1-10? I'm terribly sorry, I must be in the wrong interview, have a nice day