People can be so rude!

[Elgee]

I have probably whined about this before, but it really really REALLY gets my goat when people call me by half my name, instead of my whole name. I don't mean people I know who're close to me who give me a pet name, I mean complete strangers or business contacts who do that right off the bat.

 

My name is Laura-Gene. With a hyphen. I sign my emails and letters like that, but a huge number of people will call me Laura in their replies. I frigging HATE that! Not to mention the clients (mostly tenants, but some owners too) who can't be bothered to remember my name (or my boss's, for that matter!) and will call us just any old thing. I mean for crying out loud, all they have to do is check the previous email we sent them!

 

I find it EXTREMELY rude that people can just not be bothered with a really basic courtesy of getting someone's name right. When it's so easy to do. Do they not know, or just don't care, what a negative impression that leaves?

 

The sales person who, despite us repeatedly correcting them on our names, still get them wrong ... do they REALLY think we're going to purchase / hire anything from them? What are the chances that they're going to get our order right, if they can't even get our names right?

 

Do any of you also struggle with this? Or are you an offender? What else do you find very rude?

[Harry Potter]

My friend's mother still calls me Belinda. My name is not Belinda, does not sound like Belinda, does not even begin with B. And her son and I have been friends for almost 20 years.

The past couple of years I've been calling her Oscar. Because she plays dumb really well.

[Hallia]

I feel the same way for my first name.  Apparently Lyndsey is the wrong spelling and people have to use the ten million other spellings for it, even though I use an automated signature on my emails as well. >.<

[dawnflower8]

My name is Kaley, and people don't even TRY to spell it right. Most people spell it either Kayley or Kaylee, and a few times I've gotten Kailey, Kayle, and Kayleigh. Even some of my CLOSE FRIENDS don't bother to spell it right. It's really irritating but I'm used to it. I guess this is what happens when you have a common name with an uncommon spelling. 

 

Also, I had a teacher who seriously thought my name was Cassie for half of the school year. It was really annoying.

[Sunrise Lord]

I hate it when people don't use common courtesy. It's really incredibly easy to look at someone's name and call them by it. I make sure I know names and how to pronounce them before I call a person by their first name.

[Ithillian Turambar]

I really don't like it when people call me by the shortened version of my name.

 

really really.

 

 

I also have to listen to sales calls as part of my job and it really winds me up when I hear colleagues calling our customers by their first names instead of Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Smith etc.

 

I just feel that's really rude.

[Daruya]

It's hard to get my name wrong in the written form (Tina) but I have people who constantly call me Gina because that is what they thought they heard ME say.  Even when I correct them, they don't always get it, especially over the phone.  I can spell it out but T still sounds sort of like G and I guess they just aren't listening close enough to hear the hard "t" sound vs the soft "g" sound.

[Harry Potter]

Another thing I strongly dislike (as far as names go) is when someone has to keep asking "What's your name again?" After you've told them ten times. Makes me want to unleash some muggle violence on the idiot

[Brandie]

My mom decided to spell my name differently, Brandie instead of Brandy and loads of people spell it wrong. Even here and on FB where my name is right there, for everyone to see. Also, my eye doctor's office sends me specials with the name "Bandy Harby" Have NO idea how they messed my name up that badly but, there ya go... It was worse when I went by my maiden name. No one could seem to pronounce it right even though it's spelled exactly like it sounds.

[Hayl3y]

well i don't have that kind of problems ... but then my first name is Sophie and i live in the French talking part of the country. 

But i can understand all ur frustrations lol

[Elgee]

My friend's mother still calls me Belinda. My name is not Belinda, does not sound like Belinda, does not even begin with B. And her son and I have been friends for almost 20 years.

The past couple of years I've been calling her Oscar. Because she plays dumb really well.

 

Lol good for you!

 

It's amazing how when you do it back to people, they suddenly and miraculously get the name right! We had one client who would consistently get my boss's name wrong (she's Danielle). Mostly she would write her name "Daniel", which is male ... duh. So the one day I got really fed up and just called her "Char" back, instead of her full name "Charmaine". Instant fix.

[Elgee]

I can understand it when people hear your name, and then can't quite get it right (I'm a bit deaf myself, so I totally understand that), or if your spelling is unusual and they don't get that right either. When you write it out for them, multiple times, though, there's no excuse.

 

I had one tenant today who got extremely upset with me. We've been emailing back and forth for weeks, and she keeps calling me Laura. I keep signing my emails "Laura-Gene". After a while I wondered if she's half blind and thinks the "Gene" part is my surname, so I added my surname. No dice. Today I just had enough and replied "Just btw, my name is Laura-Gene not Laura :)". Note that I put a smiley face in there. Dear lord did she get miffed!

 

Is it really so bad to ask (politely!) that someone get your name right?

[The_Fnorrll_Reborn]

Nope.

 

My name is Ryan. Lots of people call me Brian. Wound me up as a kid. Don't care overly now, but can see how it's annoying.

[Rhea]

My name is Maria and I get called a variety of variations from Mary to Marie to Marla! I always correct people wen they get it wrong, ESPECIALLY when they call me Marie. I was repeatedly compared to Marie Osmond as a kid and I hated it. (Although it was meant to be complimentary and I love Marie Osmond)! The only time I don't correct someone is hen it's one of my very sick cancer patients. They are allowed to call me pretty much anything. LOL

[Elgee]

Lol ... people most often call me Norma Jean.

[dawnflower8]

Another thing I strongly dislike (as far as names go) is when someone has to keep asking "What's your name again?" After you've told them ten times. Makes me want to unleash some muggle violence on the idiot

I am one of those people. I cannot remember names at all. 

[michellem]

My name is Michelle, pronounced in the usual way (Mishell) and I've had people especially that call me on the phone, that insists on calling me Mikael. I mean... Michelle is a normal enough girls name. Most people have heard it several times. But nope, I still get people calling me from time to time asking for Mikael M0land (don't want googling my name to lead here, lol, so zero isntead of an o there). Seriously... Mikael? It also bothers me when people I hardly know give me nicknames. My friends (outside DM) don't have a nickname for me; it's not ok for you, random stranger in the bar, to give me one either.  (DM friends can call me Mish all they like outside DM though)

 

(also: the easiest way to piss me off, is to start singing "Michelle my belle" to me. I hate that song, and I will hit you.)

 

Worst is for my husband though. He's taken my surname now, and has his own as a middle name. But his given last name is Baltzersen. God we've had a laugh of people misspelling it, or trying to pronounce it. We were at the airport and we were late, and it bought us another five minutes or so that the woman calling us on the speaker just couldn't manage to pronounce his name XD

[Ithillian Turambar]

My sister in law is called Alexis. This was not a problem until she moved to France. They refused to let her have Mrs as her title because Alexis is a man's name there. And so she was Mr Alexis Page.

 

She actually had to send in paperwork and prove she was female.

[michellem]

That is quite sad, and also hilarious. Oh, french people.

 

I'm just happy my mother actually knew the proper female spelling of Michelle. I've actually met girls who spell it Michell or Michele, both of witch are boys names.

[Wren of the Brown]

Nope.

My name is Ryan. Lots of people call me Brian. Wound me up as a kid. Don't care overly now, but can see how it's annoying.

I also had and still have the same problem. I respond to both and people are usually aware that Ryan/Brian are similar and will usually ask if there is any confusion. I really don't mind one way or another. Once in a blue moon, someone will call me Orion and my day is made.

 

If I'm unsure of a preferred name or even just don't know, I refer to them as sir or ma'am - you can get away with quite a lot that way. Usually, people read it as my attempt at formality and will wind it down a notch by saying "you can just call me so-and-so" and that's a fairly tactful way of resolving the confusion (though sometimes, I'll get saluted at which point I respond "I'm not your superior officer" or "at ease, I didn't earn that" and the ice is thusly broken.)

 

Compound names like Mary-Beth are a little trickier, partly because a lot of people assume the second name is actually your preferred middle and we truncate it to save both time and formality. However, if someone introduced themselves that way, I use that and don't presume any sort of familiarity which allows me to change the name as I see fit.

 

Alternatively, as people expect us to use their names properly and respectfully, I expect a the courtesy of a gracious learning curve - give me some time and some indication of what you want and I'll adapt as soon as possible. I don't expect people to know everything about me right out of the gate and all real living is in meeting; there are bound to be mistakes along the way.

 

But if someone is just being a pernicious snit, then, yes, by all means, correct them.

 

How do people feel about being called by their surnames? I can go either way with mine: Surname or Mr. Surname. The level of respect is in the tone, not the usage but then we get into all kinds of complex social cues.

[Mashiara Sedai]

I have a similar problem with people pronouncing my name: Maureen.  I pronounce it the authentic Irish way (Morine), not the navy-sounding way (Marine or Merine).  So, when I say it, they think I'm saying Morning.  Like, "Wow, your name is Morning?"

 

Sometimes I even spell it out.  "My name is Maureen.  M-A-U-R-E-E-N."  They still write it wrong on my Starbucks cups.  If they still don't get it, and keep asking, I say, "Maureen, like Maureen O'Hara."  That usually works.

[Elaevia]

my name is Tammy, and it is often shortened to Tam. The only time I've ever minded this was with one biology teacher - with anyone else it is completely fine.

 

Though one person keeps spelling it Tami which really winds me up.

 

But most of all I hate it when people get my name wrong when they have interupted me when I was saying it.

 

one time it went like this:

 

Me answering the phone: hello, -name of my department- this is ---

other person interupts: hi *colleagues name* this is Dave

Me: no, this is Tammy

them: its' Dave *colleagues name*

Me: I know, this is is Tammy

them: its' dave from the other office

me: *sigh* hi dave, what do you want?

 

and with emails there is no excuse - I always make sure that I check what they have put as their name particular if they have a possible first name as a surname.

 

I don't mind it when people use my surname, though it does sound really formal and I would only really expect it from my bank or something - but my surname is hyphenated so it's pretty much pot luck if it gets used properly. and people often put an E on the end of it for no apparent reason

[Ryrin]

I'm really ok being called my first name by all ages of people. In fact, I prefer it. What really gets me is when someone is providing customer service and they call me "sweetie" and it's young women who are doing it. I'm not young, nor am I a close friend of yours. The other thing I dislike, again when being provided customer service, is when I request something and the response is "no problem." If I'm at a restaurant, it should not be a "problem" to serve drinks, take an order or to provide utensils.

[Sunrise Lord]

I hate being called by my surname. I mean hate. I don't call other people by their last name either, even if everyone else does.

[Aiel Heart]

The main problem I have is that I am Mikayla (pronounced M-ick-ayla) and people say M-ah-kayla. Which, there are certain spellings that have an a where the i goes, so I understand it (this is what happens when your name has a couple dozen spellings--I'm not exaggerating). I usually don't say anything and somehow say my name the correct way soon after the misspeak and introduce myself the correct way and yeah.

 

When people don't remember my name and try to guess, I usually am called "Mackenzie." I've been called a variety of things all my life (from Mika to Mike to Mickey) so I don't really care. 

 

I am HORRIBLE at remembering names. Sometimes I remember instantly, but I usually have to meet people multiple times before their name finally sticks with their face. Bah.