zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Oct 15, 2013 9:46:34 GMT -5
Well, it seems about 50-50 and I think we are a fair representation of America. Old and young and middle age and from different areas. It would behoove management to understand their demographics and act accordingly. Easy Los Angeles is not Savannah, Georgia.
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imawino
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Post by imawino on Oct 15, 2013 9:46:37 GMT -5
I really don't like being randomly addressed by my first name. If we haven't actually made our introductions, it feels weird. And yes, when they keep repeating it it is so forced and odd. Plus people usually manage to screw up the pronunciation, even though I don't think my name is strange.
But if the alternative is ma'am, I guess I'll take it. My sweetie usually addresses female waitresses and the like as "miss" and it drives me batty. I'm not sure why. I usually don't address service industry folks with any particular title, I just say "excuse me" to get someone's attention. Am I being rude without realizing it??
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Oct 15, 2013 9:49:43 GMT -5
Miss is acceptable to me over my first name. I didn't put my first name, just initial on my school ID card because kids thought it was funny to call their teachers by their first names and they had it right there on the card.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2013 9:59:44 GMT -5
I really don't like being randomly addressed by my first name. If we haven't actually made our introductions, it feels weird. And yes, when they keep repeating it it is so forced and odd. Plus people usually manage to screw up the pronunciation, even though I don't think my name is strange. But if the alternative is ma'am, I guess I'll take it. My sweetie usually addresses female waitresses and the like as "miss" and it drives me batty. I'm not sure why. I usually don't address service industry folks with any particular title, I just say "excuse me" to get someone's attention. Am I being rude without realizing it?? I don't think saying "excuse me" to get someone's attention is rude. "Hey!" or "hey you!" is rude.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Oct 15, 2013 10:00:53 GMT -5
Plus people usually manage to screw up the pronunciation, even though I don't think my name is strange. seriously?!
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Oct 15, 2013 10:02:50 GMT -5
I thought I picked the easiest first name in the world for my daughter. Wrong! If she was a first born I'd change her name, but I think that would confuse my oldest too much.
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imawino
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Post by imawino on Oct 15, 2013 10:07:39 GMT -5
Plus people usually manage to screw up the pronunciation, even though I don't think my name is strange. seriously?! You'd be amazed. People love to put a lot of emphasis on the last syllable. Or just go with an entirely different, more common, ending.
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imawino
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Post by imawino on Oct 15, 2013 10:08:23 GMT -5
I thought I picked the easiest first name in the world for my daughter. Wrong! If she was a first born I'd change her name, but I think that would confuse my oldest too much. LOL! now I want to know!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2013 10:09:04 GMT -5
Well, it seems about 50-50 and I think we are a fair representation of America. Old and young and middle age and from different areas. It would behoove management to understand their demographics and act accordingly. Easy Los Angeles is not Savannah, Georgia. When my children were younger and we would travel to other places, I would get random comments about my children using ma'am and sir. Some comments were about how polite my children were, some were along the lines of "that makes me feel so old". Shrug.
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imawino
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Post by imawino on Oct 15, 2013 10:09:21 GMT -5
I really don't like being randomly addressed by my first name. If we haven't actually made our introductions, it feels weird. And yes, when they keep repeating it it is so forced and odd. Plus people usually manage to screw up the pronunciation, even though I don't think my name is strange. But if the alternative is ma'am, I guess I'll take it. My sweetie usually addresses female waitresses and the like as "miss" and it drives me batty. I'm not sure why. I usually don't address service industry folks with any particular title, I just say "excuse me" to get someone's attention. Am I being rude without realizing it?? I don't think saying "excuse me" to get someone's attention is rude. "Hey!" or "hey you!" is rude. How about "yo, bitch....I'm talkin' to you!" Am I safe with that one?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2013 10:11:22 GMT -5
I don't think saying "excuse me" to get someone's attention is rude. "Hey!" or "hey you!" is rude. How about "yo, bitch....I'm talkin' to you!" Am I safe with that one? LOL! Try it and tell us how it works out for you.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Oct 15, 2013 10:17:51 GMT -5
I thought I picked the easiest first name in the world for my daughter. Wrong! If she was a first born I'd change her name, but I think that would confuse my oldest too much. LOL! now I want to know! It's Evie (rhymes with easy--yes I know I suck as a parent!) We get Evy, Edie, Eva, Ava, and one nurse actually called her EZIE! I almost died. And we gave her my german last name. Poor kid. I probably should just change her name now.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Oct 15, 2013 10:18:15 GMT -5
How about "yo, bitch....I'm talkin' to you!" Am I safe with that one? LOL! Try it and tell us how it works out for you. so far, so good.
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imawino
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Post by imawino on Oct 15, 2013 10:22:52 GMT -5
It's Evie (rhymes with easy--yes I know I suck as a parent!) We get Evy, Edie, Eva, Ava, and one nurse actually called her EZIE! I almost died. And we gave her my german last name. Poor kid. I probably should just change her name now. Awww, I think Evie is adorable. I've always like Eva and Ava as well, but Evie is more unique.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Oct 15, 2013 11:16:05 GMT -5
I still love the name, I'm just sorry that it is so prone to misunderstanding.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Oct 15, 2013 13:55:57 GMT -5
Geez, didn't seem so to me but then again, I'm used to unusual names. Thank heavens kids are cool and when I say "I'm going to try to pronounce your name, correct me please" they a kind enough to do it. Then I put how it sounds phonetically in my grade book and we are all set. Or they tell me a nick name that they are fine with but I still put other name in my book because parents usually have no clue their child has an "alias!"
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2013 14:50:51 GMT -5
I am Southern so I find your distaste for "ma'am" (and the corresponding "sir") surprising. It's one of the first words we teach toddlers. It's so ingrained that I even use it when I am talking to my students (also known as modeling the behavior I expect).
This isn't worth a separate thread, but I've been wondering if any of you are getting those pre-recorded calls where it sounds like a live person is on the other end. They ask you questions and pause for you to respond. But then the spiel just continues. I got one and ended up screaming, "I'm asking you to remove me from your call list!" before I recognized it. I would say that and the voice would continue talking over me.
DH said it was really funny to listen to.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Oct 15, 2013 14:56:38 GMT -5
Ma'am and sir are for military folks and anyone comfortably over 60 years old. I'm 31 and still get mistaken for a teenager on occasion. My first name is good thanks.
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8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Oct 15, 2013 15:50:23 GMT -5
What bothers me about it is the air of forced civility behind it. I always recognize that doing so is company policy, and know its not the CSR's fault. Like the OP said, its the repeated use within short time frames. When you've said it several times over 2 sentences, including starting and ending a sentence with it, it just sounds horrible.
Sometimes if I'm feeling especially evil, I'll do it back to the CSR. And there was a waiter once who touched my shoulder too many times in the course of the evening, so when he came back, I caressed his arm. He didn't touch me again.
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milee
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Post by milee on Oct 15, 2013 17:42:14 GMT -5
You'd be amazed. People love to put a lot of emphasis on the last syllable. Or just go with an entirely different, more common, ending. No joke. My last name is about as simple as a last name gets (thanks, DH!) Seriously, it's three letters and spelled phonetically. Think something like "Cat." But you can't believe how people want to spell it. Cate, Caht, Caat, Kat, Catt, Cath AAAAGGH! I took DH's last name because it was so incredibly easy to spell compared to my maiden name. If I knew people were going to butcher "cat" then I would have just stuck with my maiden name that was prettier.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Oct 15, 2013 19:00:38 GMT -5
I don't agree that anyone over 60 is okay with being called sir or ma'am. I'm not and I'd prefer it to my first name by someone who doesn't know me. It's how you were raised and where you live.
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xia
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Post by xia on Oct 16, 2013 13:03:23 GMT -5
I don’t like being called by my first name because 80% of people who don’t know me and I didn’t introduce myself to them will mispronounce it. It gets kind of creepy when they keep on repeating it like trained puppies after each sentence regardless if it fits there or not.
I really don’t get the logic behind these blanket policies some companies have, it makes their employees look like trained monkeys who don’t have two brain cells left to rub together. Especially with restaurants/stores, just take my order, give me my food/merchandise let me pay for it and please, pretty please stop butchering my name while you are pretending we are bosom buddies.
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steph08
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Post by steph08 on Oct 16, 2013 14:06:46 GMT -5
You'd be amazed. People love to put a lot of emphasis on the last syllable. Or just go with an entirely different, more common, ending. No joke. My last name is about as simple as a last name gets (thanks, DH!) Seriously, it's three letters and spelled phonetically. Think something like "Cat." But you can't believe how people want to spell it. Cate, Caht, Caat, Kat, Catt, Cath AAAAGGH! I took DH's last name because it was so incredibly easy to spell compared to my maiden name. If I knew people were going to butcher "cat" then I would have just stuck with my maiden name that was prettier. DH's last name is so incredibly easy and yet people mess it up all. the. time. It really drives me bananas because it is four letters and a simple sporting term. Like if it was Cat, your example. They would pronounce it "Ka-hoot," "Ket," etc. It's like people want to dress it up! My maiden name was easy but if you didn't watch, you could turn it into an insult. People rarely got that wrong. I think because they were so afraid of insulting me!
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justme
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Post by justme on Oct 16, 2013 14:28:39 GMT -5
I'd take it being misspelled the mispronounced when it's phonetic. My name is pronounced exactly how it's spelled, but almost no one can pronounce it right after seeing it in writing. Even worse is when I correct them and the phonetic spelling doesn't go off like a lightbulb and they still mispronounce it. It's like my last name is Tree but instead I get called Threw, Train, and Twain. Somehow they throw e, w, n, o, and l into my last name even though there's none there. If I get married I'm taking it if it's easier or if it's just so ridiculous no one will pronounce it right. An ex had a very Polish last name complete with lots of silent Ws, at least people had an excuse to get that wrong and I'll have less of an urge to want to shoot them!
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milee
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Post by milee on Oct 16, 2013 14:37:23 GMT -5
If I get married I'm taking it if it's easier or if it's just so ridiculous no one will pronounce it right. See, that's exactly what I thought when I took DH's last name. Trust me, even if it's 3 letters, incredibly common and phonetic, people will still screw it up. So choose whichever name you like best because neither one will be idiot proof.
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justme
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Post by justme on Oct 16, 2013 14:40:03 GMT -5
If I get married I'm taking it if it's easier or if it's just so ridiculous no one will pronounce it right. See, that's exactly what I thought when I took DH's last name. Trust me, even if it's 3 letters, incredibly common and phonetic, people will still screw it up. So choose whichever name you like best because neither one will be idiot proof. Well I meant easier for me! I'd much rather sign/write a 3 letter last name and get it mispronounced then write out my long one or have to spell it out slowly then listen to the "oh! Just like it sounds". Yes, that's why when you asked how it's spelled I said exactly how it sounds.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Oct 17, 2013 13:13:50 GMT -5
I don't know. If it's really brief, like ordering something at a restaraunt, I'll admit it's a bit awkward when they use my name. There's this guy at a KFC that I go to sometimes, and it's a bit weird that he remembers my name and greets me everytime I go there. It is a bit creepy when a customer service person who hands you chicken once a month or less greets you on a first name basis.
On the other hand, ultimately, it's not a big deal.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Oct 17, 2013 13:16:36 GMT -5
I don't care if people use my name or not. I consider it public property. I don't feel special that you can read and repeat my name - either first or last. A lot of people know my name - it really doesn't mean much.
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sarcasticgirl
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Post by sarcasticgirl on Oct 17, 2013 13:53:53 GMT -5
I don't care if someone calls me by my first name. actually I prefer it because my last name is hyphenated and people can never manage to use my entire last name. oh, and ma'am makes me wanna slap someone. I know it is respectful and blah blah, but it makes me feel old.
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goldensam
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Post by goldensam on Oct 18, 2013 12:53:07 GMT -5
It's ingrained in me to call people Ma'am or Sir and we've passed that on to my stepsons. As far as service personnel addressing me, I guess I just don't care that much. Ma'am, Miss, first name, last name... I don't care. As long as the intentions are good, I'm not going to get my panties in a wad over it.
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