It has been written into THE BOOK that customers like to be called by their name. Thus, millions of call center and retail employees are required to use the customer’s name in every interaction with the customer.
This is nonsense. I don’t feel more ‘valued’ as a customer because some check out clerk says, “Have a nice day,** Dalej42**” I don’t feel like the credit card company cares about me as a person when the call center rep says, “I can answer that question for you, Mr. Dalej42”
I’m well aware that the employees are required to use my name and they will lose points from their monitoring/observation score if they don’t.
I do. And when I worked at a grocery store, I refused to do it.
I don’t feel any need for random strangers to know and/or use my name. I say that as a customer who doesn’t want it done when I’m at the bank, and as an employee of a place that requires ID badges. The second I’m off the clock or out the door, my badge is off.
And when I pull up someone’s account, I have access to all kinds of information on them. Maybe just their name isn’t enough. Maybe I should ask them how things are at 11 E. Illinois St, #2 in Chicago, IL, or how their child Vince is doing after getting his hemorrhoids removed. That’s even friendlier, isn’t it?!
Plus, Og help you if you don’t have a short, easy-to-pronounce American/local name.
My Safeway Club Card is still in the name of an ex-roommate who hasn’t even lived in the state for years. I just get such a kick out of listening to check-out clerks try to pronounce his name.
Plus, I can buy all kinds of incriminating things and then swipe a card with his name on it. Two tons of fertilizer… twine… lighter fluid…
Unless it’s simply to get my attention, I have always felt that anyone saying my name out loud to me in conversation is trying to draw attention to themselves and patronize me.
Employers who make their staff do this are not being cognizant of the negative perceptions.
It is moreso unwelcome when the staff person does not know me personally and only uses my name because my credit card or their computer tells them what it is.
I get a bit ticked off when a complete stranger calls me by my first name, without first asking if it’s okay to do so. I’d prefer they stick to my surname until I tell them to “please, call me Shark,” or they ask if it’s okay to call me by my first name.
They may say it’s what customers like, but I’m pretty sure the real truth is “empirically, it results in customers spending more money.” This is not hard to test. They test lots of stuff, why not that?
I like it if they call me Ms Matrix Fire and pronounce it all correctly*. If they call me by my first name I don’t like it at all. But I’d just as soon they left my name out of it all together.
*My real last name, although it is pronounced exactly as it is spelled and vice versa, seems to be beyond the capabilities of about 50% of people.
They make me do it at my job, and I hate it. I still do it, though, to avoid a bad audit. Bad audits mess up my commission. But I refuse to do it when it is really stupid to do, (the customer’s name is nearly impossible to pronounce without me butchering it.)
Almost (one or two have been able to do it IIRC) no one can pronounce my first name when they first encounter it in print, so this practice generally doesn’t go well.
I hate it at the Safeway where it is mandatory that they say it, and if I pay in cash, they ask my name so they can thank me by name. It’s fake familiarity. If they remember me and know who I am, that’s fine. But call me Mr. Stone, and I’ll look around for my father.
I’ve developed the habit of jotting down the name of customer service people, due to a long involved problem I had that was best solved by asking for and/or referring to the first person I had talked to. In any case, whenever an overzealous “customer care” rovider follows the script and calls me by name, I just respond in kind.
Company X Rep: “Hello, this is Julie, how may I help you Ms. Crayons.”
Me: “Well, Julie, I have moved and wish to update my address.”
When sustained for the whole conversation, it tends to make them sound a touch creeped out, I must admit. Which is why I like it.
Same here. That’s why I go by Lynn. It was especially bad before I got married, and took my husband’s white-bread surname. People would look at my first name, look at Bodoni, and be utterly flabbergasted. In school, I learned to recognize the hesitation when the teacher came to my name on the list of students, and I’d call out “It’s pronounced (firstname) Bodoni” to avoid any further manglings. Several teachers (my HS gym teacher in particular) never did learn to pronounce either name properly, despite having me in their class for several years in a row.
Offline, I tend to go by Lynn (husband’s surname), though I have my landline listed under my real first name. Only my family and one friend from junior high calls me that name, so I know that if someone starts struggling with that first name, that s/he is not someone I want to talk to. This was very helpful back before the Do Not Call list.
<slight hijack> And yet, when I call in to tech support, they can’t seem to know what my phone number is, or who I am, or what kind of package deal I have with them. I always call in from a landline, so it’s not like they can’t have this info connected with caller ID. It wastes my time and theirs for me to go through this ritual question and response thing.</hijack>
When we go out to eat, our waitperson usually says, “Hi! I’m Chris. I’ll be your server today.” My husband always says, “Hi, I’m Mr. K and this is Kalhoun” and shakes their hand.
I hate when strangers call me by my first name - especially those who could be my kid or grandkid. I don’t mind when they give my credit card back and say “Thank you, Mrs. W—” but I don’t go shopping or to a restaurant to make friends with the folks who work there.
Can we start a letter-writing campaign to the businesses that force this familiarity on us? I’ll sign!!
