Spelling The Easy Names

[laundryhater]

Why is it that callers always spell out the easy names like "Jones" or "Smith" and not the harder ones or the ones they know are an uncommon spelling???

Sometimes I really gotta hold my tongue not to say: "Yes, I know how to spell Jones. You don't know me. You don't know what I can and can't spell. If I don't know, I'll ask you but don't just assume I'm dumb...because only dumb people can't spell Jones!"

On the flip side when a caller calls and asks me to look up a name like "Klein" that has many different spellings (i.e. Klein, Klyn, Cline, Kline) or a name that is an uncommon spelling like Mischel (instead of Michelle) it seems they never offer to spell it right away. They always wait until I've tried every spelling I can think of for it & then I ask them. Could've saved me & you a lot of time if you spell it right away! Sometimes I think they do this on purpose like they enjoy watching me squirm or something because it's very obviously not a common spelling.

Rant over. I feel much better.

Laundryhater

[Pedersen]

FWIW, I always do this for my last name, since it's pronounced "Peterson", but spelled "Pedersen".

Anyway, I say this: "My last name is Pedersen, but it has a funny spelling". I then spell it out. And the number of people surprised by the final e not being an o is astounding in itself, since I can hear them hitting the backspace key to fix it

So, not all of us are insensitive. Just most of us

[draggar]

My last name is a simple one. In fact, I'd say 100% of people who speak English as their primary language know the word and 95% of the people who speak it as a secondary know it. Everyone knows what it is and would know this on sight.

So why is it NO ONE knows how to spell it?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

FWIW, I always do this for my last name, since it's pronounced "Peterson", but spelled "Pedersen".

Anyway, I say this: "My last name is Pedersen, but it has a funny spelling". I then spell it out. And the number of people surprised by the final e not being an o is astounding in itself, since I can hear them hitting the backspace key to fix it

So, not all of us are insensitive. Just most of us

I run into that with my last name . . .

No, it's not Stroud, or Sprout (WTF?) or Stoud . . . it's STOUT. Just like it's pronounced.

So don't be offended if you hear me say "Stout - S-T-O-U-T." 'Cause 9 our of 10 will misspell it if I don't.

*whacking giant mosquitos from space away from the screen*

[Imogene]

My last name is very similar to a city that wasn't built in a day, according to the junk mail I get. I'm just used to spelling my last name from all the times I had to sign the UPS delivery pad at Chesterfield, cause, as soon as I signed it, our usual delivery lady would ask my last name.

[BrightEyedKitty]

"The name's Smith, S-M-I-T-H."

Me, writing: "S-M-I-F" (Just to be a smartass.) :P

For the record, I work at a pizza place, and the name is far far far less important than the phone number, the order itself and the address (if delivery).

[slick]

Oh my do I hate that. I hate when people give me a name, I assume it has a certain spelling, and then, when the person see's the way I spelling it (on the registration slip they sign), they flip out.
"Its K-R-I-S!!!". Well sorry, but when you say your name is Chris and offer no alternate spelling, I assume its C-H-R-I-S.
And don't huff at me when I ask you to spell your name, there is a reason I asked that you spell out "Dewbre", especially when you kept pronouncing it "DOUGHBER".

[Catwoman2965]

I hate that! my last name is SIX letters, but is an uncommon spelling of another, more common name. EVERYEONE spells it wrong!

But, in all fairness, esp on the phone, sometimes i hear one letter as another, for example, if someone says F, i hear S, so sometimes i will ask them to spell it, as the connection is not the best, and i want to get it right. My first name as well is very common, but whenver i go to Panera before work, NO ONE spells it right so i will tell them when they ask, my name is x, and then spell it out. just a pet peeve of mine...

[bigjimaz]

My last name isn't as common as some, but with my accent sometimes people mistake the way I say the last syllable. I still don't spell it unless they ask me to.

[Kogarashi]

My maiden name is Holyoak, which should be a fairly simple spelling, right? It's even pronounced like it looks. But I grew up not far from Massachusetts, which is home to a city named Holyoke, which itself is home to a well-known college of the same name. So the entire 13 years I was in grade school the school district consistently misspelled my last name. I got in the habit of saying "Holy-as-in-Bible-oak-as-in-tree" when telling people my surname, so they'd spell it right.

Then I moved to Utah for college, where all my Holyoak relatives are. People could spell my name out there, but thanks to the Utah "accent," nobody could pronounce it. I'm sorry, folks, "Holly" has two L's.

Now that I'm married, I've brought the misspelling curse on my husband's name. His is supposed to be an easy one to spell right (we use the majorly common spelling, and it happens to be the same name as a famous historical figure of which a movie was made). And yet, in the first year we were married it was misspelled no less than two times.

[Rine]

Wish I could post my last name, but it's extremely rare. People are always adding in letters that don't exist, such as "n". Even the pronouncation has no 'N' sound, but I swear, the most common misspelling of my last name includes a friggin' 'N' thrown in.

My mother's maiden/business name is more rare than my name and only about twelve people in the US/Canada has this last name. Oh my god, that name is so awfully misspelled it's not even funny. Extra letters, extra sounds, crazy crazy. I don't even try to correct people any more. Makes weeding out the telemarketers real easy. (You know the kind that call and try to sound like a friend of the family? Well, they'll ask my mom by the first name and I'll slyly say, "Annie(ex.) who? Need a last name." If they butcher the last name, I know it's nothing important. )

So, I've gotten used to automatically provided the spelling of my last name and my mother's last name. I don't even wait for people to ask. I hate it when people auto-assume that you know how to spell everything and anything and when you ask them to spell their name they act like the world's just ended for them. Sigh.

[Andara Bledin]

My name is old-fashoined, but you'd think it'd be fairly easy to spell. It's Polly.

Not once have I had someone try to spell it the right way.

I'll give my name, and then launch straight into the spelling, and every single time I've done it, the other person has said (while backspacing, erasing, or rewriting), "Oh, Polly." Because everyone assumes that it's Paulie.

Oh, and more on topic, I had someone just recently spell out the word "distributors." I was about ready to strangle them throught he phone when before they hit the first 't'.

^-.-^

[Spiffy McMoron]

The title reminded me of a story that happened back at Crappy Tire.

Two guys came to the parts counter for help. They needed a battery. I'm filling out the battery card, and I ask for their names.

One of the Guys=1G
The Other Guy=2G
Me=Spiffy McMoron

Me - Name?
1G - Uh, it's not for me, I'm buying it for a friend. Is that OK?
Me - Sure. What's his name?
1G - It's a her. Her name is Jennifer.
Me - OK. What's Jennifer's last name?
1G - Um, I don't know. We're more like, uh, "friends woth benefits".
*pause*
Me - I'll leave that part blank.
1G - Yeah. I'll just say that I didn't know how to spell her last name
2G - You'd better hope her last name isn't "Smith" or something.

[delorean623]

I was trying to pull up a rental account tonight over the phone..... got the last name, and I swore I heard Moses as the first. So I tried that. No dice. I tried all the different spellings I could think of. I then asked for the rental barcode, thinking that would be a guaranteed fix. I hear CSxxxxxx. Well, that's no good because barcodes are CC, CD, CE, and CF. I tell customer this. Apparently it was CF.... but a heavy accent, ect, made it sound incredibly like CS.

The name the account was under?
Michelle.

Throughout the entire ordeal, he was talking to someone in the background....

Oh, and the guest was acting like the account was his.... "I need to see if i have late fees or credits on my account."

He was listed as an additional user on the account.

[unholypet]

Sometimes I really gotta hold my tongue not to say: "Yes, I know how to spell Jones. You don't know me. You don't know what I can and can't spell. If I don't know, I'll ask you but don't just assume I'm dumb...because only dumb people can't spell Jones!"

Hahaha, that's half my co-workers. They always ask me between Street and Str., and how to spell things like "half" or "of"... lmao