how important is your name... in this type of setting

i work customer service.
my name is Lizbeth. i'm used to people calling me Elizabeth or versions of it. heck, i've even been called Vicky... yes, that's right, someone called me Vicky.

after a little thinking about it, i came to the conclusion that it was because i would say the following as part of my greeting: "... Lizbeth speaking. how may i help you?" i think it was the "speaking" where they got "Vicky"

now, i just overheard a co-worker get a little testy with a caller about her name... granted, the participant was saying that she knew who she had spoken to earlier and gave the name incorrectly. she went so far as to question my co-worker about her name... as though my co-worker doesn't know her own name

if you were dealing with someone who you might never speak to again, would it really matter to you if they butchered your name?

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

Nope. My name is butchered constantly, too. I'm usually called "Julia" or "Julian". My kindergarden teacher called me "Julian" the whole year and I HATED it.

We have an attorney here who butchers people's names. Actually, I almost think he does it on purpose to either see what he can get away with or because he's too important to remember your name. My co-worker's name is Trinidad and he calls her "Tiffany", Ronnie is "Romney" (as in Mitt, I guess?). Best of all, we had a girl here named Yasmin and he called her "LaShonda". Now if that's not obnoxious and racist, I have no idea what is.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

I wouldn't really care if they got my name wrong, but I would be offended if they questioned me as if I didn't know my own name.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

if it's a one shot deal, I could care less if they call me Sally...

if it is an ongoing business relationship, I would try to correct until they get it right.


On a side note, I work with FIL and BIL. When people meet FIL, he says he works with his son and daughter-in-law. Most people think that it means his son and his son's wife work here. I work here, but MY husband doesn't work here
I do try to correct people on that because it can be really freaking weird if that's not explained the right way

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

My name is Stacey and I've been called Tracy, Lacey, Suzie. I'm so used to it that when it happens, I'm just like whatever.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

It's not that important to me if its just one time or a few times...

But i have to say..since living in VA and MD, almost everyone i meet pronounces Maureen as "Marine". It irks the hell out of it. Long Islanders know to say "MORE-EEN" but here in MD I may as well be in uniform.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

It doesn't really matter when they butcher my name, but I start with:

"Hi, this is J-----, how may I help you?"

I usually end the conversation with:

"If you have any other questions, please call us back. My name is J---- and I'm at extension _____." Usually here they ask for me to spell my name.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

My last name is often mispronounced a certain way. I never bother correcting it.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

Posted by maybebaby

It's not that important to me if its just one time or a few times...

But i have to say..since living in VA and MD, almost everyone i meet pronounces Maureen as "Marine". It irks the hell out of it. Long Islanders know to say "MORE-EEN" but here in MD I may as well be in uniform.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

People shorten my name all the time which drives me insane. If it is a one time thing, I don't care. If I deal with them more than say 5 times, I say something.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

Hi Vicky.. I like your name its mine too!

Valerie
Victoria
Vicky
Vanessa
Monica
Rhonda

I get them all and often. I just let it go. I will try to correct them if I know I will need to speak to them again. I let them go on and say "Im sorry I just wanted to fix a little thing. My name is Veronica, I think you said ____. Just want to be sure you have it in case you need to reach me again."

But when I did telemarketing, folks got it wrong and I never bothered to fix it. Who cares?

This does remind me tho, if a time my assistant got a call for me. She didnt know it was for me because the caller kept saying it was "a chinese name" and my coworker got testy saying NO ONE here is chinese. I walked back to my desk hearing her arguing with someone about chinese and realized what was going on. "Hi, I'm chinese - sorta" and she says "no you're not chinese you're mexican" yes but my last name *IS* chinese ! LOL She looked like a piano fell on her! she was clueless.. man I miss her.. she was awesome funny!

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

I dont care if its a one time thing...but my name is like the most popular name ever for women my age so it is never really a problem.
I am starting to get irritated at the problems my DS's name is causing though. Is it some crazy madeup name? no, it's Brendan, which you would think is normal right? Well I get lots of people calling him all kinds of things like, Brandon, Brennan, Brenda, Brayden, Branson...really? sound it out people! it's not that out there!

Message edited 1/23/2012 2:35:36 PM.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

eh, depends upon my mood.

My name is Susanne, I am often called Susan which I dislike or Sue, which I dislike even more.

Spelling is another issue entirely.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

My name is Katherine, everyone calls me Kathy, but at times people say "katie"..that's the only thing that annoys me for some reason. I only respond to Kat, Kathy, Katherine, Kath...silly I know lol

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

OMG, OP - we have the same name!!! except I spell mine with an "S" instead of a "Z". I get it misspelled all the time!! After a while I just gave up, and told people - just call me Liz dang it!

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

my legal name is Elizabeth

I have never gone by Liz

I hate being called Liz

I corrected someone on the phone the other day- on a professional call

She called me Liz- I corrected her and said Please call me Beth

she said...."Same thing"

um....no it's not- I have been called Beth since I was born- I don't know anyway who goes by both nicknames

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

It annoys me a lot more when people do it in emails that are replies to emails from you with your own name clearly there. I also hate when people call me nicki. That's not my name, thanks.

My boss is named Yasmin and she constantly gets either Jasmine or yasmine (like yas-meen). And ALL the time in the email, which is ridiculous to me. Her email address is ylastname, so it's pretty obvious her name starts with a y!

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

Message edited 1/23/2012 5:12:33 PM.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

On a customer service call, it wouldn't bother me if they were mispronouncing my name, although I usually correct someone out of habit. Generally, I'm a low-talker so I try to make an effort to speak up when saying my name because so many people get it wrong. Now I have an unusual last name so it compounds the problem.

The only time I was taken aback was when a VP candidate who I phone interviewed called & asked to speak to Donna MyLastName. I said "You mean Barbara MyLastName?" He said "No, Donna. DONNA MyLastName." I said there is no one here by that name but I am Barbara MyLastName." He said "No, I'm looking for Donna."

Um, no you weren't, idiot. I said "Oh ok. Sorry. There is no one here by that name"

Message edited 1/24/2012 1:41:41 PM.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

I have no issue people mispelling my name or calling me something else. Sometimes people forget from the time your introduced yourself to the point of ending a conversation.

But I do take offence when I CLEARLY write my name and someone calls me something else while reading my name.

For example, my name is Marie. I filled out a form spelling my name correctly. Someone calls you Mary or Maria because it's the most common use of your name. Yeah.. I made a specific point to correct them. I know how to write my name. It's not my fault you took upon yourself to correct it.

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

Posted by Jax430

Posted by maybebaby

It's not that important to me if its just one time or a few times...

But i have to say..since living in VA and MD, almost everyone i meet pronounces Maureen as "Marine". It irks the hell out of it. Long Islanders know to say "MORE-EEN" but here in MD I may as well be in uniform.

Our school nurse is Maureen, and I was at a meeting where the chief psychologist kept saying something about "Marine." He is originally from Arkansas, but has been in NY for many years. I finally said, "who is Marine?" Everyone looked at me like I had 12 heads and he said, "you know, Marine, the nurse." I was so .

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting

Posted by ItsaJoya19

Funny thing though, I go by Beth and people I have known for years don't know my real name is Elizabeth. they are truly shocked when they learn my full name "Eliza-beth" "Eliza - BETH"

Re: how important is your name... in this type of setting