Employer insisting on name change

robatwork

Wyndham wrote: »

Well, off the top of my head, how would you shorten:
Amy
Caroline
Claire
Ian
Paul
Ruth
Graham
Lisa
Lucy
Ann......

I quite clearly didn't say shorten. Your list:
Ames / Aim / Mee
Carol / Caz / Cazza
Clairy / Cee / Cal / Clay / Ceecee
Jan / Big Ian
Pauly
Ruthy
Gray / Graz Grazza
Lis / Leez / Leesy
Luce
Annie


I am agreeing with you though - nobody should be forced to change their name completely. Or even at all if they don't want to, they can just be Babs in accounts, or their full name including surname. But I still want to know the protagonist's name...

Bob

dacouch

robatwork wrote: »

I quite clearly didn't say shorten. Your list:
Ames / Aim / Mee
Carol / Caz / Cazza
Clairy / Cee / Cal / Clay / Ceecee
Jan / Big Ian
Pauly
Ruthy
Gray / Graz Grazza
Lis / Leez / Leesy
Luce
Annie


I am agreeing with you though - nobody should be forced to change their name completely. Or even at all if they don't want to, they can just be Babs in accounts, or their full name including surname. But I still want to know the protagonist's name...

Bob

If I was given the option at work to be given a new name for professional purposes I would pick Ronnie Pickering

Spidernick

For some reason this thread reminds me of a classic Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU-tuY0Z7nQ

duchy

I've never heard anything so precious .

I've come across this situation twice -once two of my collegues had the same first name and there was utter confusion as customers were never sure if it was Val X or Val Z they'd been speaking to.....so one of the girls suggested she was known by her middle name . We all knew her real name and used it out of work if we socialized.

In my last job I was the second person with the same name and I was asked to choose another name (same kind of role so was going to cause confusion and possibly mess up commissions if my customers spoke to me first but then called back and booked with my namesake).

Again out of work - or even just when at lunch or in non customer enviroments like meetings or trainingI was always called by my real name by people I was friends with (who I also worked with) .....colleagues didn't always know -but so what- They were just that so I didn't socialize with them out of work so what did it matter.

It came in handy recently a woman stopped me in the street to say hello and I had no clue who she was - but the fact she called me Hazel (my work name which I told management I'd chosen because I'm a bit of nut) alterted me to the fact where I knew her from and that I hadn't regarded her as a friend but as a workmate.

Lot of fuss about nothing - a rose by any other name smells equally sweet - and it save conversations where after 10 minutes you realize they should be talking to "the other one"

duchy

Wyndham wrote: »

Well, off the top of my head, how would you shorten:
Amy AMES
Caroline CAZ
Claire (I know several clares two of them are always known as CJ as they are Clare Jane)
Ian
Paul
Ruth
Graham GRAY
Lisa LEE
Lucy LUCE
Ann...... Ann Annie

And, even if you could, what sort of employer would *force* you to do so. You say you've never been a Bob, what if that were the only variant left and you had to take it, how would you feel then?

One that doesn't want employees wasting their time with calls , issues that aren't in their remit when there's a simpler solution.

gingerdad

Fairly normal in airline reservations worked in two and both required everyone to have a different name worked well.

Easier than Lunn Poly who'd regular call and say it's Tracey 6 from Lunn Poly (name of town).

So don't really see an issue.

Deadbeat

You know who else doesn't get to choose their name?

Slaves.

Nick_C

Deadbeat wrote: »

You know who else doesn't get to choose their name?

Slaves.

Very few people chose their names. Most of settle for the ones our parents gave us.

xylophone

Call me Genghis.........:D

TBagpuss

dacouch wrote: »

Now that is a difficult name to shorten...

The Caroline I know is mostly know as Caro. I once know a Caroline who sometimes shortened it to Lin. her maiden name started witha C so she was also known by her initials (CC = Cecy) which confused people, espcially after she was married.

- I use my initials - call me CC.
- Oh, what;s your full name?
- Caroline Jones

back to the main qustion, I can understnad that there are some situations (call centres are an obvious example) where there are advantages to being known by a unique name in inbtereations with 3rd parties. If there is a requirement that staff are also known by fake names between themselves then that is very odd, and I can undersantad an employee being very unhappy at having this impsoed on them. I'm lucky in that I have an unusual first name so I rarely meet anyone with the same name and have never worked with anyone who shared my name. I would not be comfortable being told I had to use a difernt name.

I would be very tempted to pick soemthing difficult. I think that using a name + initial would be a reasonable compromise.