(Closed) Calling people by the name on their name tag. Do you do it?

• Deejayelle
• 8 years ago

@MsBlackberry:  haha, what’s worse is when they mishear your name and use it constantly in the conversation!

• lightmist
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: November 2013

@vorpalette:  uh i hate this, i am constantly getting called my Fiance name because its whats on the credit card. like do i look like a guy to you? 

• Extension54
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: April 2013

I work at the front desk of a hotel checking people in and making reservations.  When people call me by the name on my name tag, it doesn’t bother me at all.  I actually like it.  Then again, we get incentive points for certain things and one is if someone mentions our name in a survey (“Emily was very helpful & we really enjoyed our stay!”) so I want to make certain people know my name. :3 When I answer the phone I make sure they know my name and when they leave the desk after checking in I’m sure to tell them my name and how to reach the front desk if they need anything.  I think a PP was spot on by saying the nametag thing, while making it easier to pinpoint who exactly a customer had an issue with/wants to commend on a good job, is really a way for customer to connect with the person in the customer service role.  Especially in my job, where we want to make sure the guest feels like he’s home-away-from-home.

• joya_aspera
• 8 years ago

Thanks for the replies. I’m glad that maybe not everyone is annoyed when Fiance does it but that I’m also not crazy for being worried that he’ll just end up irritating them. I think I’ll ask him to stop when I’m there (just the name part, not the small talk part).

 

• joya_aspera
• 8 years ago

@secretlyabee:  +1, it feels too familiar.

Maybe in part because it’s a first name. You call friends by first names. But this person hasn’t welcomed you as a friend at this point. If the tag said “Mrs. Smith” rather than “Jane” I think that would maybe be a bit better. It feels not so rude to call a stranger by their title and last name as it does to call them by their first name.

• RenoSweeney24
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: December 2014

@joya_aspera:  +1

• sweetbutdemanding
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: May 2014

I politely greet them, but don’t use their name. I think it depends on whether you’re the type to try and strike up a conversation or not.

• vorpalette
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: August 2013

@joya_aspera:  Very much agreed on the first name vs. title/last name. I had a lady at my very first job who insisted on calling people either by their first name or a title she assigned them + last name. So she’d look at people’s credit cards (before they switched to the PIN pads) and call them “Stacey” or “Mrs. Jones” and I’m like, “You can’t do that. You don’t know these people, it’s weird and creepy, and who says she’s married?”

• NJmeetsBX
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: March 2012

I do it and so does my DH.  As PPs mentioned, it’s to show respect to the individual and not just snap your fingers or say “hey, excuse me” which I find really rude. Reading these replies I think it’s a little absurd to expect if you wear a nametag that people will not use your name.  It’s the reason you are wearing a name tag!  I’ve had many jobs where I wore a name tag and was never once offended or creeped out by someone using my name in an appropriate tone.  Now if they were talking down to me or something, that’s a different story.

• Twyla_Smith
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: June 2011

Working in customer service (hostess/cashier at a restaurant), I don’t like it when customers call me by my name. As others have said, it represents a level of intimacy that I do not have with them, just as I do not call them by their name as represented on their credit cards.

It honestly probably wouldn’t bother me as much if they didn’t lean in and squint at my name tag, invading my personal space. There is one gentleman who is a regular, who constantly pronounces my name incorrectly, and then leans across the counter to pat my arm. Um, no thanks!

Of course, I realize that some people just like to call others by their name tags, but it always catches me a bit off guard!

• Galang_Gyal
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: June 2013

@Sassygrn:  Exactly. I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like they’re reciting your social security number or something.

• bklynbridetobe
• 8 years ago

@NJmeetsBX:  I was really amazed by the negativity over this. I’m reading these responses like “Really?” I never would have imagined these reactions. I answer the phone at work, with my name. It’s on my voicemail. Do people object when clients/customers who don’t “know” them, leave voicemail messages, using their names to? LOL.

I’m really confused. At my last job at a major NYC retailer we were trained to uxd customers last names when closing transactions, after seeng their credit cards. I never had anyone walk off offended because I didn’t know them. 

 

• NJmeetsBX
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: March 2012

@bklynbridetobe:  It’s kind of funny actually.  It’s not like they are asking your bra size!   LOL Everytime I call a customer service center after they state their name I say “Hello, X.” It’s called manners, not perceived intimacy.  It’s true what they say politeness is so rare these days it’s confused with flirting or in this case inappropriate intimacy.