Having an apparently-difficult-to-spell-though-totally-phonetic name, this bugs me. It doesn't bother me so very much when I'm speaking to somebody, I verbally tell them my name, and they write something like "Roslyn." I get that. I understand when I'm private messaging with somebody who recently met my friend Stephen (but had no reason to see his name spelled out) and they say "So, Steven's cute! What's his situation?" I do not fault people for attempting to spell something they have not seen in writing and assuming the more common spelling. When it bugs me is when this name is written down in front of a person and they still can't figure out.
Like on Facebook. Let's say there's a woman named Abbie. Her Facebook profile states her name on every single thing she writes. On her birthday, Facebook announces to all of those on her Friends list that "Today is Abbie's birthday!" When she gets home from work, she checks Facebook and sees a barrage of messages, half of which say "Happy birthday, Abby!" Friends, come on now. You have now seen her name at least twice in the last ten seconds. You are literally typing right next to her name, spelled out for you. Let's try this experiment.
Abbie
Okay, folks. How does Abbie spell her name?
Or totally illogical spellings. Rozz? What *is* that? You've seen the name written down thousands of times in your life. I can see a misguided writing of Ros. But why would you add a second, totally pointless consonant?! I work with a few women named Jennifer. Pretty much any time ANYBODY writes a note for ANY of them, they are all addressed to "Jenn." Not a single one of these women spell their diminutive with that second "n." Additionally, all of these women wear name tags with their preferred spelling of "Jen." I know women who do spell their name that way, and I'm not saying they are wrong to do so. If your given name is Zhenipher, that is how your name is spelled and it is not wrong. If you choose to be known as "Jenn" though your legal name is Zhenipher, it's still not wrong. But if your boss insists on writing your name as "Jennifer," your boss is wrong and frankly a bit disrespectful for dismissing a crucial part of your identity.
Perhaps the most irritating thing I'm noticing lately is my boss's constant refusal to acknowledge the correct spelling of her employee's names. A few weeks ago, I went to work to find notes written for everybody on my shift and literally every person's name was misspelled. Now, some people have a hard time spelling, and I get that. However, if you are leaving notes for people whose names are six inches away from you on the roster, and you know you don't spell well, maybe glance up and see what the appropriate combination of letters is. We recently hired a young man named Geoff. I understand this is the less common spelling in this generation. In fact, I spoke to him on the phone before he started, and left my boss a note saying "Jeff called." Was I wrong in the spelling? Absolutely. However, then he started, wearing his "Geoff" name badge. Oh, sorry, man, I spelled your name wrong on a note once. Now that he has been entered into the computer, "Geoff" is what prints on the roster. He leaves notes for others signed "Geoff." Yet every day, my boss leaves him a task list that says "Jeff" on it. The first few times, he crossed out "Jeff" and replaced it with "Geoff." Boss didn't catch on and three months later, I still notes for "Jeff" everywhere in the store.
Maybe I shouldn't bitch/blog when I'm still half-asleep.
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