I need your help!
I have a pet peeve, about people calling me Susan instead of Suzanne. USUALLY I can get over it. Afer 20 whatever years of having this issue, part of me realizes, there are worse things. Well, USUALLY after people realize they were calling me the wrong name, they start calling me Suzanne, and it's no big deal.
Moving into a new ward, I knew this would happen. Well, for whatever reason, when one sister in our ward calls me Susan, for me, it's like fingernails on a chalkboard, and IT BOTHERS ME THAT IT BOTHERS ME.
For instance, a few weeks ago Jason signed up to clean the building. I show up. Said sister asks something like, "Are you Susan Hatt?"
"I'm SuZANNE Hatt", (Usually, oh, I'm sorry, and the correction, no such occurence) then she gives me instructions.
I'm turning to leave,"Thanks, Susan."
Grit my teeth, no big deal. Grow up Suzy. I tell myself. As I'm walking down the hall she says to another sister, something like, "Susan is doing the chalkboards, and Natasha, is that how you say her name? (The other sister, confirms that's right)Is vacuuming in the chapel..." and I don't hear the rest.
I guess I was on one that day, because as I was cleaning, I was REALLY annoyed. I was reminded about a conference talk, where a member apostatized over a misspelling of his name on a church record, or something like that, and eventually, I calmed down.
Yesterday, we get a phone call, same sister.
"Is this Susan?"
"This is SuZANNE"
Have our conversation. Before we hang up, "Thanks, Susan". Really? REALLY!?
The natural woman in me thinks, "Just start calling her Judith (her name is Judy) and when she corrects you, keep callling her Judith, (because as someone once said to my face, there's no difference between Susan and Suzanne. The same should be true of Judy and Judith, or John and Jonathan, or Addy and Addison, or Katherine and Kate, no difference, right? WRONG!!) and then maybe she'll get it, and call me by my real name." Obviously I should STOP entertaining that idea, because that is not Christ-like at all. Funny, to the natural woman in me, which, I'm struggling to root out entirely, but definitely not Christ-like. She probably doesn't mean to. Sometimes once you get something in your head, it's hard to unlearn it.
I guess that's why I feel so strongly about trying to get people's names right.
I contemplated politely telling her she can call me Sister Hatt.
Usually I say something like, "It's Suzanne, like, Suzanne Somers", and that usually helps them remember, but I haven't tried that, maybe I should.
Or maybe I should just grow up and get over it. Or as was more politely put by a talk from Elder Packer, "Leave it alone."
This is where any and all advice is WELCOME!! (Because you're family and friends, if I should just grow up, I think I could handle hearing it from you :)!)
What do you think I should do?
P.S. I'm trying to figure out how to post video better onto the blog, You Tube, maybe, but I don't know how, of portions a fun outing we had on Saturday night...so, once I do, the next post should be more fun!
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5 comments:
When people call and ask for Mrs hate or Hyatt or Janette I just tell them they have the wrong number and hang up because I'm pretty sure that if they don't know my name then I don't want to talk to them! Or... You could try telling her your name is Suzy and maybe she could remember that but I wouldn't bet on it!!! Guess I am not celestial yet either. :)
Is she part deaf? That is irritating! There are people that call me Tar-a (like the black stuff you put on the road) all the time and I got tired of correcting them. It's gets to be ridiculous that I just laugh.
Oh, that would drive me NUTS!! I wonder if it's an accent thing, so she actually thinks you're saying "Susan." You should try the Suzanne Sommers idea, or even "Anne" as in Anne of Green Gables. Also (I know this is not your name either) what if you asked her to call you "Suzanna?" At least she'd be getting the "Ann" part, right.
Good luck! Believe me, I know how endlessly irritating someone messing up your name can me!
Man, Clifford gets it all the time. People ask his name, he says, "Clifford" and then they ask what he likes to go by and he says, "Clifford" and then they say, "Well, nice talking with you Cliff." Ummmm...seriously, I'm there with ya, Suzy! How can she not get it even after you correct her? Buuuuuuut, maybe she isn't able to catch the (not-so-subtle-to-us) difference between Suzanne and Susan. Must be your poly accent that she can't understand! :) hahahahaha. As ANNOYING and LAME as it is, I think it's always a good idea to err on the side of thinking it's an honest mistake. Next time she calls you Susan, just politely tell her, "You know, my name is Suzanne, not Susan, and I'd really prefer to be called Suzanne or even Suzy. Thanks." :)
I think mostly it shows that they lady isn't a very attentive listener. Anne of Green Gables came to my mind too! Just say very dramatically, "Suzanne with an e!" I don't blame you for being bugged. It's one thing to do it a few times if you don't talk much, but to have the conversation, and then turn around and 2 seconds later have forgotten is ridiculous. Our next door neighbor thought that Kennedy and I were both named Kennedy for about a year! She finally figured it out the day they moved! Really? The funny thing is that both her and her husband were named Noel. I guess she figured most families just share the same name!
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