mollyanna58
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Post by mollyanna58 on Sept 24, 2015 15:33:41 GMT -5
My name is Marie. People have called me Maria frequently, along with Mary, Martha, Murray, and Margie. As long as it's politely intended, I usually don't care.
There was one client, though, that irritated me. I'd say, "Hi, it's Marie" and she would always reply, "Oh, Maria?", then call me Maria about every third sentence.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Sept 24, 2015 16:01:49 GMT -5
I don't make a stink but it does drive me bonkers that people cannot spell my last name. It's super freaking easy. If I had a dime for everytime someone asked me "Like the part of a tree?" I wouldn't have to work right now.
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Sept 24, 2015 16:08:25 GMT -5
I can get over the misspelling of my name a lot easier than the arbitrary shortening of it. My funny story about work name spellings is this... I had worked for my company for about 5-6 years at this point and was the only one with my name (in any spelling). I have a version of the the 'unusual' spelling. Another woman started with the same name, but with a different version of the 'unusual' spelling. We finally met one day and she said. "I've been meaning to thank you, this is the first time in my life I've ever come to a place that knew to put the "H" in my name, you've trained them well!" ... "Now if I could just get them retrained to add the "A" I'll be all set. We then went about our different jobs only to meet up again when I got tagged to cover her maternity leave. Poor people didn't know who the hell they were working with. I'm convinced some of them didn't realize she ever left. Then we ended up as co-managers in the same dept. We are now forever known as "The _ _ (a) _ _ _ _'s" And yes we have people that put the "A" in parenthesis when writing it. Had to laugh at this. I worked for a company and there were two of us that had same first and last names. They started referring to us as Good NoName and Bad NoName. I'll leave it to ya'll to figure out which one I was. We we also fielded lots of calls on home phones too but that's another story altogether.
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Post by mojothehelpermonkey on Sept 24, 2015 19:45:10 GMT -5
My first name also uses the least common spelling of a fairly common first name. I don't generally mind if people get in wrong. My SO's grandmother always spells it with the wrong first letter, but I never wanted to correct her more than once because she is a really sweet lady. However, last Christmas she got me a pendant necklace with the wrong first letter. That was a little awkward because the gift didn't make sense to anyone who knew how my name is actually spelled. Luckily, his family opens their gifts all at once so I don't think anyone really noticed. My last name is difficult to spell and pronounce, so I usually just start spelling or pronouncing it for people if they seem to hesitate.
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Sept 24, 2015 20:29:14 GMT -5
I can get over the misspelling of my name a lot easier than the arbitrary shortening of it. My funny story about work name spellings is this... I had worked for my company for about 5-6 years at this point and was the only one with my name (in any spelling). I have a version of the the 'unusual' spelling. Another woman started with the same name, but with a different version of the 'unusual' spelling. We finally met one day and she said. "I've been meaning to thank you, this is the first time in my life I've ever come to a place that knew to put the "H" in my name, you've trained them well!" ... "Now if I could just get them retrained to add the "A" I'll be all set. We then went about our different jobs only to meet up again when I got tagged to cover her maternity leave. Poor people didn't know who the hell they were working with. I'm convinced some of them didn't realize she ever left. Then we ended up as co-managers in the same dept. We are now forever known as "The _ _ (a) _ _ _ _'s" And yes we have people that put the "A" in parenthesis when writing it. Had to laugh at this. I worked for a company and there were two of us that had same first and last names. They started referring to us as Good NoName and Bad NoName. I'll leave it to ya'll to figure out which one I was. We we also fielded lots of calls on home phones too but that's another story altogether. Lol. We had two guys named Jerry, but with different last names. They were still called "good Jerry" and "bad Jerry" (they were both good at the job, one was just super nice and the other a good natured asshole )
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Malarky
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Post by Malarky on Sept 24, 2015 20:37:59 GMT -5
I have an unusual spelling of a common Irish first name. Someone misspelled it 100+ years ago in Nana's family bible and they blessed me with it. And I spell my nickname with a "y" not an "ie", TYVM. My maiden last name was Scottish, easy, no confusion. ExH's great grandparents came through Ellis Island where they looked at their Dutch name and shortened it to four letters which could have really used and "e" if they wanted anyone to pronounce it the way the root of the name was pronounced. At least I wasn't ExH's father..no one ever got his name right. The last name I share with DH and kids is well known. He's related to some pretty famous people. It never gets spelled correctly. Even when you are spelling it out loud, people add an extra letter. When I first bought my house, I had to sign my name 14 times-once for each time it appeared on a legal document. Every single misspelling was represented. I've stood in a bank trying to deposit a check and when I asked what was taking so long, been told that they are just "correcting" my name. Let me just wait while you fix that. My boss of 30+ years would routinely spell my name with an "ie." Until she had a child she named with an "ie", not a y which is more common. I would intentionally spell her daughters name wrong and when she would comment, I told her that I know how it's spelled and when you bother to consistently spell my name right, I'll do the same. So yeah...I hate it.
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Sept 24, 2015 21:06:56 GMT -5
My boss of 30+ years would routinely spell my name with an "ie." Until she had a child she named with an "ie", not a y which is more common. I would intentionally spell her daughters name wrong and when she would comment, I told her that I know how it's spelled and when you bother to consistently spell my name right, I'll do the same. So yeah...I hate it. My supervisor would still spell my name with a "random" capital letter for years (even asking me if it was upper or lower case, more than once). So, I started replying to his emails with random capitalization in his name whenever he messed up. It was more to "tease" him than anything, but he started to remember it was lowercase after that.
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mollyanna58
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Post by mollyanna58 on Sept 24, 2015 21:15:06 GMT -5
What is this Facebook group of which you all speak? It's called Something About Kidd Steps. If you'd like to join, PM me your FB name and I'll send the invitation to join.
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taz157
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Post by taz157 on Sept 24, 2015 23:05:34 GMT -5
I had my maiden name mis-pronounced many times, but I was used to it. Based on how it's spelled and how it's pronounced did make sense on why it was mis-pronounced. I was so used it during school that it stopped buggy me along time ago. With my married name, sometimes people want to add a second last letter that's not there (like Smithh instead of Smith). At my wedding, my boss (at the time) said that he'd have my login info changed from when I came back from my honeymoon. Needless to say, he added a second last letter that's not there. I still have it happen periodically even though my work email's signature has the correct spelling. I did have a client berate his employee due to stating who's name was on the form I had received them (which I initially didn't notice). Needless to say he couldn't spell my name correctly even though it's on my work email's signature.
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marvholly
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Post by marvholly on Sept 25, 2015 5:22:31 GMT -5
I have gotten used to it. My last name is spelled abcan. Most spell it abcin.
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Value Buy
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Post by Value Buy on Sept 25, 2015 7:56:34 GMT -5
What I sincerely hate is receiving advertising for a deceased relative who died over twenty five years ago, who never lived at our address. After my father passed away, it stopped coming to my dad's address, for this relative, and now I get it. Just received another advertisement Tuesday with his name on it. It is always like a punch in the face mentally.
Still waiting for the day the piece of mail is from an institution saying you have not touched your account for 25 years and we need an update for our files....... Where do these companies get these names? From a dead file list, and they do not even know it? Sorry to get off track.
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Post by mojothehelpermonkey on Sept 25, 2015 9:48:50 GMT -5
Every year on my dad's birthday, TIAA-CREF sends a birthday card addressed to me. I inherited the account when he died 10 years ago, and I guess they updated all of the information except DOB. I get other junk mail that is addressed to various hybrids of our names. I assume it's from other companies buying my contact information from a company that I had to deal with while settling the estate.
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Chocolate Lover
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Post by Chocolate Lover on Sept 25, 2015 11:34:14 GMT -5
My first name canbe spelled with or without the "e", but I spell it with an e. You'd be surprised how often it's spelled without the e. Like others I get annoyed when people respond to an email with my name in the signature block at the end and don't bother to check to see what the correct spelling is. They sometimes use the incorrect name after I bring it to their attention! my last name is French but is a very common name which can also be a girls name if spelled slightly differently. It's spelled with an accent mark over the last letter. I've always pronounced it correctly (the French pronunciation), but I don't get upset if everyone else uses the English pronunciation. This made me think of Anne of Green Gables, Anne with an E! I should read that again.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2015 12:50:07 GMT -5
My former next door neighbor, and a bunch of other people on my street, would pronounce my name Kerry. Yeah, that's not my name. I'm named after a Stephen King book and it's pronounced the way it's spelled. Don't piss me off or I'll set your prom ablaze! Bah. All we had at mine was a bomb threat. My maiden name, I had never seen spelled correctly until Criminal Minds. I LOVE EMILY!!!!! I wish she was in my family. I'd pronounce those two spellings exactly the same, as well as other variant spellings I've seen and know personally : Karrie, Kari, Keri. I've always pronounced them all like the word "carry" = care E. Is this a regional thing like Mary-marry-merry? Those all sound alike to me, too. I'm in Mass. Yes, it is a regional thing. I know I should just shut up and thank my lucky stars they at least pronounce the Rs. But really, it's the "e" vs "a" pronunciation thing for me. Just my own personal bug up my ass.
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PK Bucko
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Post by PK Bucko on Sept 25, 2015 12:57:33 GMT -5
I don't hate it when someone misspells my name, but I'm always taken back by the stupidity. I have a very easy name so if someone screws it up, they're obviously a little tweaked in the head.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2015 12:58:41 GMT -5
My first name (Elizabeth/Liz) is pretty hard to mess up, but both my maiden name and married last name are unusual or foreign, so they get butchered all the time My poor husband's name is Panagiotis (give pronouncing it your best shot, you're disqualified if you're Greek) and he didn't even learn to spell it until he was in middle school or something, so you can imagine how that gets attempted. (he goes by a nickname so the full name doesn't have to be spelled super frequently) Hah. My sister's is spelled Elisabeth. You have no idea how long it took me to realize that it is also spelled with a z. I usually just call her Liz or pain in my ass. She answers to both. DH likes to sing the Taco Bell commercial "Here Lizard, lizard. Uh-oh, I think I'm going to need a bigger box!" My BFF just calls her Elisabitch. I can give your DH's name a shot. I went to school with a rather large number of Greeks. That was actually someone's last name in my homeroom. Kid I was in school with since 4th grade has the Greek name from hell. He went by Arthur to make life easier. And don't even ask me how to spell his last name. I can pronounce it but not spell it.
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lund
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Post by lund on Sept 25, 2015 13:02:05 GMT -5
Most times, the misspellings are due to multiple versions commonly encountered. Other, also quite naturally, due to foreign names (such as mine). Also with regional differences in pronounciations, preferred spelling and customs, it is sometimes quite understandable. Then add in "creative" spellings and "new" variations, and it can be quite hard for some people to get their names pronounced as they wish.
Such as for an exchange student at school. Her given name was McKay. Everybody called her what they read: Mack-Kay, with the stress on the last syllable, assuming there was some Scottish influences behind it. We found it quite a bit strange, especially for a female, to be called a last name instead of a normal given name, but assumed it to be American. Unlike the other foreign exchange students, she probably did not like being here, and instead of being very out-going, social and likeable like the other ones, she was on the surly side. She also managed to rub a lot of people the wrong way, chiefly with her complete disinterest in learning at least a few basics of the language, expecting us to speak English or translate "since we could". One day in class she used the time when the teacher went to fetch something to complain that everybody here in Urrup pronounced her name the wrong way. To our surprise, on asking we were informed that her parents had intended it to be pronounced "Mickie", as a cute short version of the name Michelle. One guy, who was regarded as being very far from a budding rocket scientist but had a certain knack of getting to the point, loudly said: Why didn't they call you that then? Which was answered with an angry: They did, you stupid SOB! On which he replied: But they couldn't spell? That was answered by a description of what stupid morons and hillbillies we were, well, actually all people in this country, to which the not-a-rocket scientist used a pause to say: Then you will fit in here really well! Poor McKay! She was as read as a British mail box and making stuttering and hissing noises when the teacher returned and said: Let's continue with reading. Can you start, Mack-Kay?
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Icelandic Woman
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Post by Icelandic Woman on Sept 25, 2015 13:05:24 GMT -5
It's called Something About Kidd Steps. If you'd like to join, PM me your FB name and I'll send the invitation to join.
Done!
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gs11rmb
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Post by gs11rmb on Sept 25, 2015 13:50:55 GMT -5
Most times, the misspellings are due to multiple versions commonly encountered. Other, also quite naturally, due to foreign names (such as mine). Also with regional differences in pronounciations, preferred spelling and customs, it is sometimes quite understandable. Then add in "creative" spellings and "new" variations, and it can be quite hard for some people to get their names pronounced as they wish. Such as for an exchange student at school. Her given name was McKay. Everybody called her what they read: Mack-Kay, with the stress on the last syllable, assuming there was some Scottish influences behind it. We found it quite a bit strange, especially for a female, to be called a last name instead of a normal given name, but assumed it to be American. Unlike the other foreign exchange students, she probably did not like being here, and instead of being very out-going, social and likeable like the other ones, she was on the surly side. She also managed to rub a lot of people the wrong way, chiefly with her complete disinterest in learning at least a few basics of the language, expecting us to speak English or translate "since we could". One day in class she used the time when the teacher went to fetch something to complain that everybody here in Urrup pronounced her name the wrong way. To our surprise, on asking we were informed that her parents had intended it to be pronounced "Mickie", as a cute short version of the name Michelle. One guy, who was regarded as being very far from a budding rocket scientist but had a certain knack of getting to the point, loudly said: Why didn't they call you that then? Which was answered with an angry: They did, you stupid SOB! On which he replied: But they couldn't spell? That was answered by a description of what stupid morons and hillbillies we were, well, actually all people in this country, to which the not-a-rocket scientist used a pause to say: Then you will fit in here really well! Poor McKay! She was as read as a British mail box and making stuttering and hissing noises when the teacher returned and said: Let's continue with reading. Can you start, Mack-Kay? Clearly she took after her parents in the brains department! I moved here from Scotland in 1998 and it still strikes me as odd to meet people whose first names are MacKenzie, MacKinley, MacKenna, etc. And as for poor "Mickie" ... MacKay (or Mackay or McKay) is pronounced Mac-eye .
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andi9899
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Post by andi9899 on Sept 25, 2015 14:25:25 GMT -5
I don't hate it when someone misspells my name, but I'm always taken back by the stupidity. I have a very easy name so if someone screws it up, they're obviously a little tweaked in the head. Ditto.
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Miss Tequila
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Post by Miss Tequila on Sept 25, 2015 18:47:21 GMT -5
I have a very easy name so I can't remember a time when anyone ever spelled my maiden name wrong. Though I did have a hug school guidance counselor ask me how to spell is...those on my facebook will get why this is ludicrous!
My married name (soon to no longer be mine legally!) was spelled incorrectly a lot. It ended it "dek" but many people would spell it "dick"...funny now that I realize it is that dick's last name :-p
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whoami
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Post by whoami on Sept 25, 2015 19:05:00 GMT -5
DHs name is Mark. Ive seen Mark, Marc, Art and Bart on the Starbucks cup.
My maiden name was always being misspelled, most of the time replacing the "e" with an "i". I've also had the "th" replaced with an "n" a lone "t" an occasional "ths" and the totally off the wall "etto"
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Sept 25, 2015 19:26:31 GMT -5
I moved here from Scotland in 1998 and it still strikes me as odd to meet people whose first names are MacKenzie, MacKinley, MacKenna, etc. And as for poor "Mickie" ... MacKay (or Mackay or McKay) is pronounced Mac-eye . your Gaelic name makes a little more sense now! I think I found you on the FB group.... and I looked up the pronunciation to make sure what I thought it was is actually right.....and it was.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2015 19:20:55 GMT -5
I live in a very large and diverse city so I constantly struggle to pronounce names correctly. My biggest challenge are those beginning with multiple consonants. Something is bound to be silent, but which one(s) A local political candidate is Dung Le, but several Vietnamese friends tell me this is not pronounced as it looks, but something closer to Dong Lee, except that in the Vietnamese community he would be addressed by the Dung, even by people meeting him for the first time, and not by Mr. Le which seems wrong to me. Now I know a Mr. Le, Mr. Li, and Mr. Lee-all pronounced the same!
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toomuchreality
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Post by toomuchreality on Sept 30, 2015 12:16:35 GMT -5
It doesn't really bother me when someone gets my name wrong, depending on the circumstances. But because it has happened so many times, what does bother me, is for me to get other peeps name wrong. Therefore I ask the spelling of names, most of the time. Even if it's the customer service agent at the electric company and I'm not likely to speak to her again. I'm sorry if your name is Kim and I ask how you spell that, to be sure it isn't Kym. But knowing the correct spelling of a persons name has saved my butt more than once and most people appreciate the fact that someone cared to actually get it correct. Especially once they understood why I was asking. I don't think I ever sent Lynda anything addressed to Linda, or Lyndah (etc). Or at least I hope I didn't! Having worked in each the customer service, billing, credit and collections depts, of a large business, I've learned how important the spelling of a name can be. I automatically spell out my name, if I know the person is either writing it down, or entering it on a computer. I also advise people when it comes to my mailing address, if I'm giving it (West is part of the street name, not a direction, so must be spelled out). story: One of the first things I ever purchased on ebay, was never received. So I sent a nice message to the seller asking about it, and explaining that 'West' needed to be spelled out, when writing my address. I got a 'not so nice' reply from the seller, in which they said it was not their problem. They had sent the item to 1234 East XXXXX St, per my paypal acct. -Really?! I could forgive this, had they said they sent it to 1234 W XXXXX, or even N XXXXX, or S XXXXX. But the street name is not XXXXX , they are 3 individual streets and there is no such thing as East XXXXX St. either by name, or direction. So either they hadn't really sent it, or they sent it to the wrong address. Either way, it was their problem. →I got a refund. When it comes to Xander being short for Alexander, I agree, relatives should know this and address things accordingly, if they've been made aware. You can't expect people to assume and do it correctly. Personally, I associate the 'X' with Alex, not with (X)ander, so until someone explained it to me, I'd probably get it wrong too. Sorry 'bout that! For years we addressed my niece as Cassie (short for Cassandra). When she was about 23yrs old, I found out by accident she preferred Kasi, not Cassie. I respect that and address things to her appropriately. Buy never in a million years, would I have known this, without being told. I thought Kasi was a friend of Cassie's.
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teen persuasion
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Post by teen persuasion on Sept 30, 2015 18:36:04 GMT -5
Having worked in each the customer service, billing, credit and collections depts, of a large business, I've learned how important the spelling of a name can be. I automatically spell out my name, if I know the person is either writing it down, or entering it on a computer. I also advise people when it comes to my mailing address, if I'm giving it (West is part of the street name, not a direction, so must be spelled out). So, slightly off topic, how far should a business go to accommodate a customer's choice in name? In a recent update to our system database they added a "preferred" name field, presumably for nicknames that differ from your legal name. Thus a patron record search on Pat and Patrick are possible. We've got a few regulars that confuse the heck out of us, though. One is Michael, but off and on wants us to call him Gabriel, so we modify his preferred name. A book comes in for him, so we call his house to let him know. His wife answers and doesn't recognize "Gabriel". Another we've known for years as Leo. He lost his card, and got it replaced at a different branch, and suddenly his account says Charlie. He told us that years ago some people knew him as Charlie when he was a cook. Ok, but what name do you want your card to list? What should I call you now? He's so nice and accommodating that I don't want to push the issue, but really have the impression someone at the other branch "fixed" it for him, and he doesn't want to create trouble.
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toomuchreality
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Post by toomuchreality on Sept 30, 2015 21:27:00 GMT -5
Having worked in each the customer service, billing, credit and collections depts, of a large business, I've learned how important the spelling of a name can be. I automatically spell out my name, if I know the person is either writing it down, or entering it on a computer. I also advise people when it comes to my mailing address, if I'm giving it (West is part of the street name, not a direction, so must be spelled out). So, slightly off topic, how far should a business go to accommodate a customer's choice in name? In a recent update to our system database they added a "preferred" name field, presumably for nicknames that differ from your legal name. Thus a patron record search on Pat and Patrick are possible. We've got a few regulars that confuse the heck out of us, though. One is Michael, but off and on wants us to call him Gabriel, so we modify his preferred name. A book comes in for him, so we call his house to let him know. His wife answers and doesn't recognize "Gabriel". Another we've known for years as Leo. He lost his card, and got it replaced at a different branch, and suddenly his account says Charlie. He told us that years ago some people knew him as Charlie when he was a cook. Ok, but what name do you want your card to list? What should I call you now? He's so nice and accommodating that I don't want to push the issue, but really have the impression someone at the other branch "fixed" it for him, and he doesn't want to create trouble. While I was working there, we always used the name on their drivers license first. Other names were listed as AKA (also known as). It was a utility company though and we were always trying to avoid theft of service. Accommodating a name preference wasn't real high on the priority list. We tried to avoid using aliases. Sorry I'm not much help. I don't know if this suggestion is at all helpful, but... (keep in mind I'm not familiar with the business, it's practices, or policies. It's been quite a while since I worked there. Also, my thoughts are off the cuff, so adjust them to fit the situation.) If it were me, I would let Leo know (in your nicest "I only want to help you" voice and "I really need your help here"...) explain that the trouble is in the fact that he hasn't given his preference. That there is a master file and you need to be able to cross reference information (or something like that). Assuring him the other person that helped him won't be affected / know he even spoke to you, if that's realistic. Given the limited amount of information I have, that would be my first suggestion, if you are going to talk to the customer further about it. Although it is very accommodating and a nice gesture, it sounds like an absolute nightmare, when it comes to keeping records straight/accurate. I would go to the person above me, or the person who implemented this idea and ask how they would like it to be handled. After all, it's their 'baby' so to speak. This way, they have an idea what the issues around it are and won't be blindsided, if it doesn't work out exactly as they expected. Also it assures things were done the way they wanted/ expected, so if later, it should be decided to stop accommodating, it's clear(er) why it didn't work. It seems to me one person should be in charge of making these decisions, so you don't end up with everyone making their own policy, as they go. But that's just me. Good luck! Seriously. I think you're going to need it.
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teen persuasion
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Post by teen persuasion on Oct 1, 2015 7:18:53 GMT -5
toomuchreality , thanks for the advice. The biggest issues here are that the software is a third party product, and it is definitely not quite optimal, AND we are part of a 3 county library system. So there are ~ 2 dozen libraries of all types and sizes acting both independently and as a system. When the software doesn't accommodate functions we want, we exploit other features to create workarounds, at the local level. For example, the patron phone number field doesn't appear on overdue notices, and my branch contacts patrons by phone if possible (only mail out notices if unable to reach otherwise). So I edit patron records to add the phone number in an unused address field so it will show in future notices. I also add a note in the phone line if patrons have email notification, since that is not obvious unless I go into the modify widget. Obviously, the phone entry is simply a string text field, not a 10 digit field, and many old records merely have 7 digit phone numbers from the time when there was one area code for the entire region. Unfortunately, now there are two different area codes in use, and increasing use of cells that can have any area code, and many still just assume the local area code and don't enter it, so I am often guessing when calling another library's patron. As far as Leo, I did try exactly that tack but he refused to say which he prefers! I wonder if he has different groups that know him by each name. My husband does this - he goes by his middle name with family, but everyone else since moving to this community knows him by first name. It took me a long time to get comfortable referring to him by first name to others. The current SW could help/handle the situation: legal name in name fields, other name in preferred field, can effectively search and find records on either. A check box gives priority to preferred name (displays preferred) if desired. I'm not sure everyone is aware of how to use it, though. We just learn it on the fly, and many take the path of least resistance and only use the subset of functions they've always used.
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Lizard Queen
Senior Associate
103/2024
Joined: Jan 17, 2011 22:19:13 GMT -5
Posts: 14,659
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Post by Lizard Queen on Oct 1, 2015 8:21:01 GMT -5
I have a full first name, and a shortened nickname. I never expect businesses to use my nickname instead of my legal name. I know and answer to both, so it doesn't seem like it should be that big of a problem. There was one lessee that I called occasionally that was foreign, but went by Steve-- probably because everyone butchered his name. I could see the confusion in that case if you got ahold of some family member instead of him. That's really on him and not you (or me in that case), though. I guess I would say don't sweat it too much. As long as you're trying, that's what counts.
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toomuchreality
Senior Associate
Joined: Sept 3, 2011 10:28:25 GMT -5
Posts: 16,913
Favorite Drink: Sometimes I drink water... just to surprise my liver!
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Post by toomuchreality on Oct 1, 2015 10:46:01 GMT -5
teen persuasion, Ahh- knowing it's a library system explains a lot. I haven't been to the library since, I don't know when. But the people that work there really do seem to go out of their way... either to be nice / helpful, or the complete opposite. The city I live in switched from a single prefix to 2, or 3 prefixes and from 7 digit dialing, to requiring 10 digits not so long ago, as well. I'm one of the old farts that still has trouble remembering to dial the prefix, before I dial a phone number. And I couldn't even tell you what the other new prefixes are, off the top of my head. But then I no longer am in a work situation, outside the home, so it's not something I've needed to learn. It does sound like you are doing everything you can, to get and keep things moving in the right direction. That's a good thing. Partially because your job only becomes harder, if they don't get done. But also because it helps keep mgmnt off your back and things just run smoother, if people do their jobs. Unfortunately, there will always be customers like Charlie (or?), who tend to make things a bit more difficult. But then, they keep it interesting, to some degree too. Thank goodness not everyone is a challenge, huh? Keep up the good work!
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