On my first day on the job, my temporary namebadge had my last name slightly mis-spelled. No biggie; so when I went in today, I had the secretary (or whatever they’re called these days) print up a new one, correcting the spelling of the last name. However, several hours later it was pointed out that now the first name was wrong. Not mis-spelled, mind you, but the entirely wrong name: “Steve” instead of “Scott.”
Over the years many people have gotten my first name wrong, somethign I suspect is very common due to mumbled speech, bad hearing or just not paying attention. But what I’ve noticed is that when someone gets my first name wrong, the default wrong name is usually “Steve.” I’ve been called “Steve” a LOT. This I find odd for two reasons:
1) “Scott” sounds nothing like “Steve.”
2) “Steve” is my fathers name.
Due to #2, I might suspect that at least some of the confusion may come from people who know my father, and thus make a slight mental slip. But I hardly think that anyone here in Maryland is well aquainted with my father. Nor the “Stevists” back in Utah, California or Colorado.
Weird.
