The phone rings. I answer it. A telemarketer is on the line. "May I speak with Mrs dePollis?". Never heard of her. I thank my lucky stars each day for caller ID. I rejoiced when the no call list was developed. It not just the obnoxious call during dinner, I can’t listen to someone butcher the pronunciation of my name. They get my first name wrong as well even though there is popular song about it. I’d rather be called Ma’am, even though it makes me feel old. Those savings cards you get from the grocery stores are terrific except the poor clerk is required to say "Thank you Mrs or Mr ..." and it takes about 6 months for them to get the name right. For anyone who wants to know, this is called name dropping. In theory it is supposed to create customer loyalty, in practice it can be a turn off. I’ve learned to laugh it off at this point in my life. My suggestion to anyone who believes he or she has a difficult name to pronounce, say as often as you can. Be proud of family connections that gave you that name. If you have a rare name, know that you are special. Give thanks when some says it right the first time.

Junk Mail

This past election season I was inundated by junk mail from candidates and causes. Thankfully they spelled the name right. That didn’t stop me from shredding it all and turning it into kitty litter. There was a time when I was receiving junk mail for a person named Mitchell Depopollous. I wonder if he was getting mine. I’ve seen so many variations of my first and last name on my mail over the years; it’s a wonder that the US Post Office hasn’t questioned who really lives at my address. Maybe they have and I really should be getting more junk mail. I’ve been able to connect the sources of junk mail through the incorrect spelling of my name. When one piece of junk mail has the same spelling as a piece I received two months ago, I know who sold my name and address. Of course everything is done through computer systems and although convenient, is not always accurate. What do I do about it? Well if the mail doesn’t have my name on it, I put a note that the person does not live at this address. Other wise it goes to the shredder. It needs to, because although the piece of mail may not have the correct spelling of my name, it does have other information that is correct. Gone are the days when you could just throw the thing in the trash.

Right name, wrong person

If anyone out there is a parent of two or more children then you’ve had this experience, calling the child by the wrong name. I have two children, a boy and a girl. It should be easy not to mix their names up, right? Wrong! This is happened with my two cats as well. I can use the excuse that they are similar in coloring and size, although there is an 8 pound difference in weight. Sometimes in the dark and head on they look the same. It doesn’t seem to make a difference to them except for a certain pet name. Sometimes I would use the pet name PeeWee when calling my female cat. She didn’t seem to mind it even though it wasn’t her real name, which she also responds to. I adopted a male kitten, who was just a tiny ball of fluff. One day I called him PeeWee. The female cat was not pleased; after all that was her name and how dare I use it on the other cat. She sat and stared at me with daggers in her eyes. I was careful after that never to call the male cat PeeWee.

The alias

It may sound mysterious; it may sound spy storyish. I have an alias. It really isn’t a big deal, but the question crops up every time I fill out an application of any kind. For a while I went by another name, for a while I was married. I decided to go back to using my maiden name. It was not because of my ex either. My son’s and my own medical records kept getting mixed up with other people. Since my married name was common, this sort of thing was bound to happen. I decided to make the change to my less common maiden name before anything drastic happened. Hurray for unusual names!