| A rose by any other name does NOT sound as | | | | the decision to go with the other bank. Bottom line has |
| sweet. Shakespeare, of course, in Romeo and Juliet | | | | been hit! The scary part is that you may not be the |
| said, a rose by any other name sounds as sweet. | | | | only customer who walks out the door. One wonders |
| What he meant was that Juliet could have been called | | | | if managers or supervisors listen to staff talk to |
| Fido and would have been as lovely to him. Not so in | | | | customers! |
| business. How many times has a customer service | | | | Personally, just before I was about to go into the |
| representative mispronounced your name? Even if | | | | hospital for minor surgery, the nurse from the |
| your name is Smith or Jones? I once heard a clerk on | | | | surgeon's office called me to remind me of some |
| a phone say, "Thank you Mr. Jon-nes? " giving the | | | | things. She mispronounced my name, again, and to |
| name two syllables. Then, I heard her recant and | | | | make matters worse, could not figure out why I didn't |
| pronounce it correctly presumably because Jones, one | | | | spell my first name, Leigh. I was under-impressed. I |
| syllable, on the other end, corrected her awkward | | | | already had some misgivings about the surgeon at the |
| pronunciation. My name runs the gamut in pronunciation | | | | two office visits I had had. I was in a dilemma. What if, I |
| - Bolling -ker, Billinger, Ballinger, Bollin[muffled[! Why is | | | | thought, my name gets put into hospital records the |
| that? We Americans tend to be gun-shy of words, | | | | wrong way?; what if there is a major hand-up with my |
| even names that sound foreign or are too long. Ah, but | | | | insurance claims because of it? How many other |
| Jones? | | | | mistakes does this surgeon and his staff make on a |
| Yet, pronunciations of a name can affect the bottom | | | | regular basis? The doubts were too much, so I |
| line. Let's say that every time you go to your bank, one | | | | canceled the surgery. I told the office that I was not |
| particular teller makes a shambles of your name. Then, | | | | ready for the surgery and would call back. I have not |
| let's say that a new bank opens up right across the | | | | done so. |
| street from your present bank. They are advertising | | | | The point here is that we only have our names. They |
| some pretty good deals so you pop in to see for | | | | are our true possession in life; it is true that some of us |
| yourself what they can offer. The customer service | | | | may not like the names and change them. It is also |
| rep carefully pronounces your name, slowly at first, | | | | true that we do not like disrespect of our names. |
| because he asks if he has pronounced it correctly. | | | | Whether it is Smith, Smythe, Schmidt or Jones or |
| That is refreshing to you, and you are impressed. A | | | | Bollinger (ger has the jer sound by the way), our |
| couple of more times at your present bank, a couple | | | | names are all we really have. Banks and physicians' |
| of more miss-handlings of your name and you make | | | | offices should take heed. |