Two people have called me ‘Nikki’ today. One of them is someone I will probably never see again so that’s fine, but the other one is someone I see pretty much weekly. I HATE the name Nikki, quite aside from it not being my name (I answer mostly and most happily to Nic although I accept Nicola when people are being stern :lol:) I really don’t like it anyway. I’ve known Nikki’s in the past and it just conjours up an image of someone else. But for some reason it’s really tricky to tell someone not to call you Nikki when it is a shortened version of your name. And of course the longer you let it go on the harder it gets.
We had a neighbour who thought Ady was called Andy for years. It went on so long in the end we simply couldn’t correct him. We used to sign Christmas cards from Andy and everything otherwise he wouldn’t know who they were from.
But hey it could be worse – someone I was with today started talking to a mother about her daughter only to be corrected with ‘ah, yes, he’s a boy!’ 😆
Don’t know the answer. When I was working in America, everyone insisted on calling me ‘Barb’, even though there were three other ‘Barb’s’ and I eventually gave up pointing this out. To differenciate between the different ‘Barb’s’ (*bangs head on wall*), our initials were also used, so I had BarbY on my badge. So clients all called me ‘Barbie’. Argh.
Actually, I think the answer is to just tell them. I don’t think people would be offended, and they might not listen to you anyway.
Comment by Barbara — 20 November 2006 @ 11:36 pm
I’ll tell her if you want, Nic! I get a strange variation on this as people sometimes call me Alison, which is not my name. I had a very crap counsellor once (my only attempt at counselling) who called me Alison and I realised that I wasn’t going to get very far with someone who didn’t even know my name…
Comment by Allie — 20 November 2006 @ 11:41 pm
Oh, I’m going to have real problems not calling you Barbie now Barbara :-).
Yeah, just tell them Nic – any discomfort will be short lived
Comment by chris F — 20 November 2006 @ 11:41 pm
No wonder you don’t mind us calling you ‘Babs’ then – Barbie is so not you! 😆
Lol, thanks Allie, you tell her then 😳 🙂 It’s so much easier if someone else does it in a situation like that I reckon and for some reason a totally wrong name seems slightly easier to correct than a slightly wrong one ITSWIM
Comment by Nic — 20 November 2006 @ 11:57 pm
Lol – “Lucy” started off calling me Merrily, even though i pointedly emailed her as merry. I was forced to threaten to dock her wages unless she learned my name!
Comment by Merry — 21 November 2006 @ 12:01 am
I knew a girl named Nikki
I guess you could say she was a sex friend
I met her in a hotel lobby
masturbating with a magazine
Comment by Chris — 21 November 2006 @ 6:34 am
sex friend hahahahahaha I nearly spat out my peanutbutter on toast then.
Comment by Em — 21 November 2006 @ 9:05 am
Yeah, doesn’t even rhyme 😉
Comment by Alison — 21 November 2006 @ 9:15 am
LOL did you notice how I just kept going after that wonderful conversational moment, bluster, bluster, me I’m crap at kids’ genders etc. And then offered to make you a cup of tea you already had because I was sooooo embarrassed.
I find it hard if I’ve already corrected someone about my name and they’ve said ‘oh right’ but then they do it again straightaway, cos then you have to get your slightly more forceful voice out and that’s uncomfortable.
Comment by Ali — 21 November 2006 @ 10:13 am
It was actually really funny, one of those situations where you have to pinch yourself to stop from getting hysterical 😆
Comment by Nic — 21 November 2006 @ 11:00 am
Thanks for not rubbing my nose in it though, I thought you might catch my eye with a smirk and then I would either laugh or cry!
Comment by Ali — 21 November 2006 @ 11:23 am
And dilema has 2 ‘m’s like Emma for future reference, Nicola.
Comment by Ali — 21 November 2006 @ 11:23 am