The perils of wearing a nametag

[Roland]

My two jobs are relatively close, so there's a certain
amount of crossover in the customers I see at each
job. The end result is I have a fair number of people
that act and talk like we're old high school buddies
or something. Nothing wrong with that until....
Had a guy get offended that I carded him the other
day.
Just because you're friendly, know my name and you
see me a couple times a day doesn't change what I
have to do.

Not a big fan of name tags anyway. I use the name
on my birth certificate at work instead of what my
friends call me.

[Bright_Star]

They think because they can call you by your first name that it somehow means that you'll bend over backwards to get them what they want. Nooooooo, it doesn't mean that no matter how much they get mad, spit & scream at you.

[Dreamstalker]

Exactly...and they think they can complain about you when you're off the clock.

(I've had nothing but stickers on my nametag for just over a year; doesn't do anything about the asshats who learned my name before the switch, but it cuts way down on new occurrences)

[RealUnimportant]

I'm kinda lucky, I've only had one person try to act chummy because he'd finally remembered the name on my badge. He took it a step too far though & started using a contraction I've never been partial to (not that I respond to any of them usually), but his missus decoded my "stop calling me that you ****" poker face one time when they came in together & he's not done it since.

Still, I've got hangers-on that assume themselves to be my friends even if they don't bother to know/remember my name. I'm adept in smile-&-nod-ese, and unless they're blocking other customers then I'll usually sit back & finish my crossword until they talk themselves hoarse.

[Food Lady]

I forgo my tag or cover it with my hair every chance I get because my wearing it means they know who to blame.

[Trixie]

I always get creeped out when I see them glance at my name tag and then use it. I'm at my store so long that plenty of the regular customers know my name. It's just something I've gotten used to. We have to wear our name tags or else we get gently reminded that we have to, like it or not.

[Food Lady]

My bosses only notice if we're having a visit. I like when customers try to look at my name and I can see they're doing it and they can't see it. Score!

[cindybubbles]

Can you switch name tags with a coworker that has a difficult-to-pronounce name, just for fun? Or try using a difficult-to-pronounce version of your name?

It also helps if you have a name that comprises of characters outside of the English alphabet.

[Food Lady]

Can you switch name tags with a coworker that has a difficult-to-pronounce name, just for fun? Or try using a difficult-to-pronounce version of your name?

It also helps if you have a name that comprises of characters outside of the English alphabet.

They don't notice if I don't have a nametag, but they would notice if I did this.

[drjonah]

Most of the time I don't wear my name tag. Felt it was kind of pointless because even with it on, I'm still going to get asked 'Excuse me, do you work here?'

[Thana]

I wear my nametag on my hat. We're not supposed to but I do it because it's so faded and old that if the first letter of my name rubs off completely, I'm left with a cuss word and a few extra letters. Not what I want my customers noticing. My regulars know my name and people who end up becoming my regulars learn my name. Everyone else recognizes my face.

[Dreamstalker]

It also helps if you have a name that comprises of characters outside of the English alphabet.

Hmmm, I should try that... (I don't think the store nametag printer can handle non-English characters, but that's what label paper's for). Too many SCs here can read Cyrillic, so I was thinking Klingon

[cindybubbles]

How about just using a blank name tag?

[Food Lady]

How about just using a blank name tag?

It's not allowed where I work. Neither is my being "Bob" for the day, as I found out.

[cindybubbles]

It's not allowed where I work. Neither is my being "Bob" for the day, as I found out.

How about writing your name both backwards and upside down?