03.31.01
When I was growing up, the only monogrammed pencils and notepads that were close to my name were Kristin. Sometimes I'd find a Kris, but never a Kristen. I never understood as a child why my name wasn't good enough to be on a pencil or a pen.
Once in a while as a child, I'd find another Kristen, and her mother would always explain that she picked the name of her daughter because Ricky Nelson (Ozzie & Harriet's boy) married Kristen Hammond (Mark Hammond's sister), and she thought it was a beautiful name.
In junior high, I went by Kris, and in high school I went by Kristi. It wasn't until college that I decided that Kristen was a beautiful name, too.
When I graduated from beauty school and received my degree in the cosmetological arts, the name printed on my cosmetology license was Kristin L. Lxxxx. It took a couple of years to get that rectified on my license renewals, but the original document is still incorrect.
When I got my own auto insurance, the policy was listed as Kristin L. Lxxxx. Despite numerous attempts to have this fixed, it remains listed as Kristin L. Lxxxx.
When I got my first paycheck from Saks Incorporated, it was listed as Kristen Beauty Loper. All of the insurance cards issued to me from Saks Inc. are for Kristen B. Lxxxx. I figure that somewhere on some paperwork my name was listed as "Lxxxx, Kristen (Beauty)", meaning that I worked in the beauty salon.
When I bought my new car, the name on the paperwork was Kristin. That was fixed, but when the loan payment book arrived from Firstar, not only was the name listed as Kristin, but my last name was listed as Lzxxx. Hopefully the strongly-worded letter I sent with my first payment will fix that error.
So, when our new business cards arrived at work the other day, and they read "Kristin Lxxxx", I snapped*.
I told Terry, the woman who ordered them, that they were incorrect, most notably that my name was misspelled, and that I couldn't hand out business cards with the wrong name on them. She told me that she had ordered the cards as Carol had directed. (Carol says that Terry never asked her for any information -- she figured that Terry would get the information she needed to put on the cards from the Human Resources Director, Angela.)
I then asked if we could have the cards sent back and reordered with the corrected information, and she told me that they couldn't send those cards back, and that we should use them until she could find out whether or not we could get new cards. I asked if we had to pay for the cards, and she said that the store paid for them. So, I set the box of my cards down on the desk in front of her and said that she should throw them away or find another use for them because, again, my name was misspelled, and I wasn't about to hand out business cards with the wrong name on them.
I think I hurt her feelings, but you know what? That's bullshit. I've worked there for almost 5 years, and she should know how to spell my name by now. Sweet barbequed baby Jesus!
*Carol's cards, and my cards as well, had the wrong phone number listed for the salon. The name of the mall we work in was also misspelled -- Old Capital Mall, as opposed to Old Capitol Town Center/Mall (As in the Old Iowa State Capitol building that is across the street from the mall). The mind reels.
