Froot Loops:

If they think they "know" me? It's nothing but people thinking they can get me to do their jobs.

Luckily my job is pretty well defined and I don't have to worry about that. The loosest part of it is that I function as therapy for the business group. They get to vent all their frustration about their current system to me, and I just need to make sure their future is better than their past. It's great bonding material, I just need to hold solid with their trust. I've done a pretty good job so far, but connecting individually is key to that. Everyone needs to feel listened to.

Like, socially? I'm not sure I would know what other name to use. Maybe I'm not understanding.

I get blank looks when I tell people in stores my last name when they were expecting a first, but really. Let's not get into it. That could be a first name.

And then I get curiosity that I don't like when I omit my last name socially. I don't get why people need both of them!

I think it's more a function of them not understanding what our team does, and I think it's better for my boss to 'splain what we 'don't' do than it is for me.

I know exactly why people need my last name socially. There are like 5 or 6 of us. It can get confusing, or lead to nicknames or signifiers that can sometimes be angry-making.

I generally don't mind when someone uses my first name, since odds are they'd pronounce my last name wrong anyway.

I particularly feel this with regard to first names. I hate it when people I don't know use my first name.

Yeah, I feel kind of uncomfortable if someone I'm not familiar with addresses me by name in a familiar manner.

Someone told me once that the supermarket clerks reading your name off the card is a lazy way to check for identity theft. (If you respond to the name on the card, you probably didn't steal it.)

But if they're not going to pronounce the name correctly, it doesn't seem like a terribly effective method.

Yeah, I feel kind of uncomfortable if someone I'm not familiar with addresses me by name in a familiar manner.

So if it's someone you just met, what should they call you when addressing you?

So if it's someone you just met, what should they call you when addressing you?

Somewhere, Miss Manners has felt a pang.

Traditionally, they should call you ma'am/sir if it's a passing interaction, otherwise they'd have been introduced to you and be calling you Mrs./Miss/Ms./Mr./Sir/Lady etc. Whomever.

My work situation has enforced my laziness re: names, because I've never really had a job where I had to work directly with other people, it's been isolated computer production with intermittent feedback meetings, or support things where I'm talking to people on a phone and I've got their name in front of me on the screen. And it's taken me years to get comfortable saying "OK, SoandSo, how can I help you today?" and "Thanks for calling, SoandSo."