It took me awhile to figure out this is NOT a compliment. It's a dodge to get me to do everything.

I have a couple of co-workers who will say to me, several times a week, "You know this so much better than I do." Bottom line -- they want me to do the job for them. Conversation I had with a co-worker recently:

"I've shown you before how to do this."
"My memory's bad. I can't remember."
"That's wny (boss) told you to take notes."
"Yeah, but I can't read my notes."

If it was just at work and only once in awhile I could probably ignore it, but I've gotten it all my life. "Mary's so much better (smarter, whatever). Let her do it" Or from ex, "You know where everything goes and I don't." So he got to sit and read his books while I did all the work.

People think if they use the self-deprecating approach ("Oh, I'm such a flake. You have to do all the remembering.") they'll get off of doing anything and put it all on me. I've even had a co-worker tell me, "I don't want to learn your fancy stuff. You need to keep doing it."

Do I, now? I don't think so. I'm tired of people buttering me up to get me to take the whole load. Yes, I'm bright. That does NOT make me the office plow-horse.