It’s not a childhood trauma thing. I had a decent upbringing. I’ve been like this all my life. I’ll talk about people using their name to others when the named person isn’t around, but I avoid using their name as a vocative to their face.
Same thing with people using my name. I don’t mind people summoning me by calling my name, but I cringe when people use my name as a vocative in front of me. I also get irritated when people I don’t know and have no intention of establishing a relationship with use my name.
I worked in a call center and we had the usual opening “thank you for calling _____ my name is early_riser, how can I help you?” I assumed the unspoken rule was that I’m giving my name so the client can later refer to me in complaints or commendations, not because I want to establish anything more than a client-employee relationship. Also, I always use “sir” or “ma’am” when addressing clients, and hope they reciprocate that respect.
Edit:
Yes I know what names are for. Also “angry” was too strong a word. I don’t lash out at people when they do this. I understand that people are trying to be friendly when they use my name and that the irritation is unwarranted, but it’s there and I want to know why.
“Dude,” “bro,” and “buddy,” and “son” make up how I talk to everyone too.
Same for me. I don’t care about pronouns that are used for me but hearing or seeing my name used anywhere feels weird as hell. Maybe it just plays into my general dislike of being perceived.
Is your name a TrageDeliah or something?
But as someone with a Chinese Name in an English-Speaking country, I do feel very weird when someone calls my name…
They’ll never get the real version of the name, only an Anglicanized version of it.
It feels weird, like it feels kinda like a name that only Chinese people are supposed to call me, having a non-Chinese say that name feels like if a teacher called you those nicknames only your family members are supposed calls you by…
I never feel weird saying someone elses name. Like wut bruh?
But yea I get it, the phone call giving their name is very weird to me… like c’mon you’re supposed to be a faceless nameless person who I talk to for 10 minutes lol
Even in person customer service is still weird unless you’re more long term… like I’m a client or something… like real estate agent or car sales person
Not fucking customer service or a fastfood, dont wanna know your name and I don’t like giving out mine either
I so agree. I can’t quite explain why but it feels so weird. I know my name.
I hate being called “sir” it sounds pretentious as fuck. Use my name, its far more personable and normal. Titles are like dress codes - completely made up theater that people play along with.
In the event of a call center scenario, it wouldn’t even be hard to track down who took the call whether they remembered my name or not, so I still wouldn’t care.
The only time it would be weird/annoying is if the person so constantly using my name instead of a pronoun, or if they’re using a tone to imply negativity toward it.
Yeah, we got rid of nobility for a reason. Demanding being called sir, madame, doctor, etc. Is just a holdover of middle class envy towards aristocracy. I’d much rather prefer to be called by my name than some arbitrary words meant to separate people into hierarchies.
Chiming in to say, yep, me too. One example that used to really drive me nuts was when I’d go to the gym and the person at the front desk would acknowledge me by name, even though we’ve never had an actual conversation or anything. It felt fake and forced and I hated it so much.
I also always felt so awkward as a kid talking about my friends’ parents. Mr./Mrs. LastName usually felt weird, but it also usually felt weird to use their first names, so I’d almost always refer to them as Friend’s mom/dad.
I don’t like when people work my name into a conversation (“that’s a good point, glimse!” Not “hey glimse how’s it going?”) because it makes me…suspicious. Like mind instantly jumps to the tactic taught to sales people to build rapport with prospective customers.
My guess is that it’s a defense mechanism. I’ve been taken advantage of after blindly trusting someone before, now I’m predisposed to look for the signs.
I’m sure it doesn’t help that I don’t really love my name. I don’t care enough to change it but it wouldn’t have been my first pick.
Yeah, I fuckin hate it when people use my name while talking. It feels very awkward and creepy to me, especially if they use it often. I don’t wanna hear that. I know who I am.
Spamming my name in conversation is a whole other thing. It feels like they’re trying to sell me something, or otherwise persuade or convince by faking a level of trust they haven’t earned.
YES ABSOLUTELY. It squicks me out so much. I used to work in a call center and I was very friendly but definitely all business—with what I was doing, the reasons for calls are very cut-and-dry. When I would pick up the phone and greet someone and they’d go off with:
“Good morning, Rai. How are you doing today?”
“…great”
“That’s good to hear, Rai. Rai, can I ask…”
I instantly am in a nightmare world and want to delete them from my life.
When a customer reads my name tag in an attempt to be friendly
I used to always wear someone else’s name tag because I got a kick out of them calling me by random names
If you work in a call centre it might be the de-escalation training they gave you. I have the same issue with my name and I know it is coming from the fact that I know that people in call centres are trained to address the caller by name very often to… calm them? Establish a good relationship? I don’t know but it makes me furious if someone is doing this to me.
lol what training? They just had me shadow someone for a few days while they set up my station.
Haha, nevermind then.
I think you’re just autistic, buddy. This is not typical behavior for people that are not neurodivergent. The tell is that you get “oddly angry” when someone uses your name when they’re strangers. Good luck navigating life with this one.
Feeling this. My preferred method to acknowledge people when talking is to look at them. Bad enough, in my opinion. About the only time I use a person’s name is in a greeting or, more often, to get their attention.
At least there is the Fediverse. And STEM.
Being good at any part of STEM is kind of a superpower
Names exist specifically so other people have something to call you. There is no point in having a name if it isn’t explicitly for the purpose of being used by other people.
I think using people’s names is an old life hack from “How to win friends and influence people”. Most people respond well to it.
It’s also a nice thing in a group where some people might not know or might have forgotten other people’s names. Then they don’t have to ask.
I hate it when salespeople who have my data in their system use my name over and over again, feels so false. In moderation it’s nice though… Also one guy working at a large store last year remembered my name as soon as I walked in after a month or so, I was definitely impressed.
Yes it is weird. It is your name, what else should they call you? “Cat with the fluffy eyebrows”?
I assumed the unspoken rule is rule is that the client can give my name so the client can later refer to me in complaints.
The call center would certainly now you took the call without needing your name, but you are partially correct. You giving your name humanizes your interaction with the client so the client is less inclined to submit a complaint. Also so much of customer satisfaction with outages and issues is achieved just by having someone address the issue.
It depends on how you define weird, but this phenomenon has a name (if that gives you a clue as to how common or uncommon it might be): Alexinomia
I also not only struggle with not feeling weird when I hear my name, but I also just avoid using other people’s names to the point that people get upset with me when I am trying to tell them about things involving multiple people because I will simply never name any of them. It makes listening to me rather confusing for others, and I’m not even entirely aware I’m doing it. And I die a little bit inside whenever I’m in a situation that requires me to address someone by name.
Might be worth looking into Alexinomia for some more information if this is bothering you.
I wonder how people who are afflicted with this and also named Alex feel about that label.
