There seems to be some kind of mental block when it comes to names in Tent City. As I mentioned before, most of the people I worked with all summer referred to each other as the products they sold – Anklet, Kites, Tattoo, Air Brush, etc.
As we said goodbye to everyone last week during the final day of the Seafood Festival, Linda (Anklet) was wishing everyone a good year. She approached You Need Sunglasses and said goodbye and followed up with “What’s your name again”? Bruce’s wife replied, “Farrah”. Linda said “Sara?”. For Linda I figured that was close enough – so apparently did Farrah as she didn’t correct her! I had a similar conversation with Linda some time in the middle of the summer, but let me start at the beginning.
Like I mentioned earlier, Jim and I took the time to learn everyone’s name and then used it when addressing the person. I assumed everyone knew our name as well. I spent some of my downtime talking to the others in Tent City and particularly liked talking to Stella, the Palm Reader. She was of the same generation as my parents and I enjoyed talking about old movies, the way it was and our families. One night as we left for the night, Stella called out “Goodnight Jim and Donna”. I wasn’t sure I heard her correctly so I let it go.
Stella has an accent – maybe Russian or Hungarian. I thought maybe it was just her way of saying Dawn. Over the next week or so, it was clear she was saying Donna not Dawn.
This isn’t the first time this has happened to me. I once had a boss from Massachusetts. She would say my name and the name of a co-worker, Don, the exact same way. She eventually called me Dawner to differentiate the two of us. In another office, a man I worked with but didn’t spend much time with thought my name was Joan. I can understand the similarity. I never corrected him as I didn’t really see him much, until he moved to my home town and I saw him all the time!! Now he sees me at the local Stop&Shop and yells “Hey Joan!”. I just wave back.
So, I let this go on too long and felt like I couldn’t say anything as it would embarrass Stella. So I decided to handle it the passive aggressive way. One night Jim made sure to say to Stella “It’s Dawn’s birthday today”. She looked at him strangely, kind of cocked her head and said “Happy Birthday Donna” with the emphasis on Donna as if she was correcting him! So that didn’t work!
A few days later, Stella greeted me with a loud “Hi Donna!” as I walked by Linda’s booth. I leaned in and said to Linda, “You know Donna is not my name.”. She actually said to me “What is your name?”. We had been working together for at least 6 weeks at that point! I said incredulously, “It’s Dawn!”. She said “Ooohhh”. Ugh!
The scary thing with Linda is I had already had this conversation with her weeks ago. I asked her what Bruce’s wife’s name was. She said she didn’t know. She then leaned in and said “I don’t know what your name is!”. I said it was Dawn. She asked “Do you know what my name is?”. I said “Yes, its Linda and you’re married to Pete!”. She seemed impressed.
On the last day that Stella’s great granddaughters worked the Palm Reading booth before going back to school, Alexis asked all of us in Tent City to sign a poster of her favorite movie “Guardians of the Galaxy” like it was an autograph book. I wrote a sweet little note and then signed it “Dawn (not Donna)”. Alexis doesn’t hear that well to begin with and I think she had no idea what my name was even though she spent hours talking to me and Jim. I hope Stella reads it and knows that my name is Dawn.
This is such an awkward situation. It’s embarrassing to me that I let it go on for so long – and it would be embarrassing to Stella that she called me the wrong name for 10 weeks. What would you have done?
Dawn (not Donna) & Jim
P.S. As I was writing this post, Marge, the elderly sister of Carmen (the Silver guy) asked me what my name was. I said “Dawn”. She looked at me like she didn’t understand, so I said “like early morning”. Carmen overheard and said “Oh, Donna!”.
Adventures in Owning a Kite Shop 