I blogged awhile ago on how I've always had a bunch of nicknames when I was a kid. The one that really stuck for a long time was "penguin" due to how I used to run. (I probably run faster now) The oddest name was "cork" since one person thought I looked like a cork.
Over the years I have been called a lot of names and some of them were good. My favorite one was by a co-worker who named me "The Sunshine Man." She said that my friend KC and I should enter a work contest as "KC and The Sunshine Man." (For those of you over 90 the reference is to the famous band, "KC and The Sunshine Band) I loved the name immediately and I decided then in the 1990's that if I ever had a distribution business I would call myself, "Sunshine Man Distribution." (I still have a registered business in New Jersey and South Carolina with that name)
In South Carolina, I've already been called a lot of names. My co-worker has come up with dozens of them, but my customers have been calling me names also. Since I deliver many things to them, to some I'm "the water guy" or "the paper guy" or "the Staples guy." My favorite one last year was the guy who asked me, "are you the beer guy?" I had to answer yes, since I was delivering beer to him.
My current favorite name was the guy this month who said I was, "the head delivery dude." I can see that on a business card in the future in big letters and my name and number underneath it. I'd love to see the look on people's faces when I give them that card!
I've been driving people with unique names also. A couple who were both named Chris could have a lot of fun with solicitor's calling them on the phone. How do they separate their mail? Do they dare name a child Chris?
What if your name was "Special?" I gave her a ride and she told me that her parents did not have any girl's names picked out when they went to the hospital, so they called their baby, "Special." Oddly enough, she has met two other woman with the name of "Special."
Have you ever seen the name "Karen" spelled "Karrenn?" My rider said that they made a mistake on her birth certificate and never corrected it, really.
I've joked with some of the people I deliver to about their last name, when it's a "presidential name." The most common are "Wilson" and "Johnson", but I've also had people sign for deliveries with "Washington", "Adams", "Taylor", "Kennedy", "Jackson" "Grant", and "Bush". My favorite is Ms. Wilson in a hospital I deliver to and she starts grinning as soon as I walk in. I've told her Mrs. Wilson was really the first female President of the United States since she covered for Woodrow Wilson for some time when he had a stroke. I call her the First Lady which always gets a laugh out of her.
I was going to write this blog last night, but I didn't get to it. My blog would have ended with this: after naming several of the Presidents as I do above, I would have added "Gore", since some people still think he won the 2000 Election. But, the reason I didn't get to it was the better ending I got today.
A woman at a hospital today with the last name of "Grant" said her name and our conversation went like this:
Me: "A Presidential last name!"
Ms. Grant: "You said that the last time I signed."
Me: "Am I the only one who has ever said that to you?"
Ms. Grant: "Yes"
Me: "There are a lot of people with Presidential last names, like "Wilson" and "Johnson" and "Bush."
She did not want me to have all the fun, so she added:
Ms. Grant: "And Gore."
I politely laughed and did not fall on the floor laughing.
Me: "But,he didn't become President"
I'm not sure if she just got confused or she really thought he was President of The United States. You can't make these things up. Sometimes the reality of names are much more interesting and entertaining than what you can make up. I wonder how many people have signed for my deliveries who have names of Vice-Presidents? Well, there's Gore........
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