One of the jobs I work requires me to look up people by name, birthday, phone number, etc. It's not a difficult thing to do unless the customer makes it difficult. Which happens more often than one would imagine.
A customer comes to me for service and I immediately look to retrieve their information by asking for a name. First and last and I only use the first three letters of each. So when you arrive and I ask who you're picking up for, "Me" is not going to help me help you. I know you've been to see me before, probably numerous times, so you know the routine. Give me your first and last name, or the name of the person whose product you're getting. "Mary" won't cut it. You're not the only Mary in the world.
But here is where more difficulty appears. I'll ask for a name and get "Caleb Smith" as an answer. Great. I type in the first three letters of each. CAL, SMI. Nobody appears. I ask for a birthday. I get 06,09,2003. Excellent. Oops. Something's wrong. No account appears. I try asking again to confirm the information. Caleb Smith? "Yes." June 9, 2003? "Yes." Nothing comes up. When I explain this to the customer they insist that the information is correct and that they have an order waiting.
Okay, let's try again. Confirm the birthday again. June 6, 2003. "Yes." Spell Smith. I get an eyeroll and a sigh. S-M-I-T-H. Okay, just checking. Spell Caleb. Even bigger eyeroll and sigh. K-H-A-L... WAIT! WHAT? You spell Caleb KHALEB and you're getting annoyed with me for not knowing that? Are you serious? Most everyone else spells Caleb the conventional way. You decided to spell it some unconventional way and expect everyone to know that in advance?
I can't tell you how many people come to me and then get annoyed that I can't spell Annita, or Maygahn, or Kiyleigh or Mikel without assistance. Do us a favor. If the name you're giving me isn't spelled the conventional way, SPELL IT FOR ME so we don't waste each other's time. There is a line building up behind you and the faster I get your information, the faster I can get you through the line and move on to the next customer.
And while we're here, let me just mention to all of you younger people that we older people do, in fact, now that months correlate with numbers. January is one (1), February is (2) and so on down the line. You are allowed to say that your birthday is June 6, 2003 without having to say zero six, zero nine, two zero zero three. I actually had a mid-20s kid begin his birthday with November, then stopped and said 11... So I did point out, politely but firmly, that I do know that months have numbers. His response, "Oh, I wasn't sure." And he was dead serious.
So in the best interest of all of us involved, please spell your name if it has an odd spelling, and say your birthday as if you believe I have a decent level of intelligence. It'll move the process along faster so you can get your order and get back to the phone call that you just couldn't ignore while trying to interact with me.
Until next time...peace to all.
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