People don't usually acknowledge it themselves, but that's how oral narration works - it has to keep the listener's interest and relate to them, be it either an anecdote or something that happened to one yesterday. Compare someone asking for accept ("permission" for telling the story): 'Hey, know what tall black guy living next to me? [audience reaction] So, yesterday we went to...' vs 'At a certain time, I went with this person to...' (you can add M. and N., if you want - like in Chekhov novels) The other version lacks any way to relate to listener(s) and would feel pretty dry.