Sunday, November 05, 2006

My name is not Cheryl

It occurred to me over the weekend, when I was driving home from DC perhaps, that no one - particularly potential employers - seems able to get my name right. In the last couple of months of job-searching, I have been called all kinds of names that are not Cheri. My name is not Cheryl or Chris or Cindy or Jerri or Cherree or Cherry. It's Cheri, pronounced the same as the more obvious Sherry or, for those who are not familiar with that name either, think of share - eee.

Now, I understand the pronunciation of Cherree or Cherry and those honestly do not bother me. Cheryl is understandable - kind of - since my middle name does start with an "L". Therefore, people see Cheri L. and I guess miss the space between the i and the L. However, when I write an email to someone and sign it with Cheri (of course), I find it irksome that they respond by calling me Cheryl. Cindy is just plain inexcusable, in my opinion. Chris is actually not something I have encountered recently but I used to get that a lot when I was younger. Now, Jerri is what I was called by the one woman who interviewed me on Friday and while I guess it's a simple mistake, I still think it's totally rude for a prospective employer to not bother to try to remember my name. If I as a prospective employee called someone by the wrong name, I'm pretty sure it would be remembered and held against me.

Thank you. Rant complete.

No comments: