DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a name that is very similar to other names. Having spent my entire life being called by the wrong name, I do not take offense. I simply tell people my name. Sometimes in writing.
And yet it persists. I typically try to reintroduce myself, maybe more than once, but ... it feels super awkward to shout out, “That’s not my bloody name, already!!!”
My friends and frequent acquaintances know my name, of course. But I am currently in a volunteer position in my community, and my program contact still calls me by the wrong name -- after multiple introductions, despite my subsequent efforts to try to discreetly inform them (e.g., in every signature of every email).
Suggestions on how to politely fix this, both specifically and in general? It is just disappointing to resign myself to telling people, for a lifetime, “My name is Saucer, not Soccer.” It feels like a constant confrontation. I realize in the time of COVID, this is not a bad problem.
GENTLE READER: There is, unfortunately, no wholesale solution, as the next person who mistakes your name has no way of knowing about the 4,628 who offended before.
You will therefore have to resign yourself to correcting that person with one of the self-effacing approaches with which you are so familiar.
A person who makes the same mistake after multiple corrections can be handled more sternly. Miss Manners will never condone the “bloody name” gambit, but she sees nothing improper in saying, “I volunteer here because everyone is so considerate. But please, if you could let everyone know that my name is ...”
It would be natural if the tone of each repetition revealed an increasing, though still polite, annoyance.
(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)