I've learned to live with it. Being misspelled, that is. When I called my doctor's office to schedule an appointment, the secretary asked for my last name.

Karten, I said, and spelled it. Long pause while I was put on hold. "Have you seen the doctor before?" she asked. Yes, I told her, he's been my doctor for 12 years. On hold again.

At length, she returned and asked for my last name again. K-a-r-t-e-n, I said. First initial? N, I said, as in Nancy. (I learned long ago that if I said "N as in Naomi," it only confused the already befuddled.) It was obvious she was striving mightily to coax the computer into submission. "OK," she said at last, "here it is. I thought you said it was spelled with a C."

No, I told her, I'm quite certain I spelled my name correctly. Even my spell checker agreed.

It's a kurse!
Do you ever face similar spelling snafus? If so, maybe you find, as I do, that it never gets any less frustrating. I had a similar experience when I called an airline to change a reservation. The service rep insisted I didn't have a reservation. I guided him to my reservation under the incorrect spelling (or maybe I should call it the correct misspelling).

Similarly, when I arrived at a hotel recently, I was told I didn't have a reservation. After I helped them locate my name under C-a-r, I assumed they'd correct it. Wrong. When my husband called, he was told there was no one there by that name. Fortunately, he knew the drill, but what if it had been my client calling to reschedule our meeting?

Once, when my husband and I were on vacation, we decided to stay a few days longer. He called the front desk to ask if we could keep the room. "Your name?" he was asked. He went through the with-a-K routine. "Nope," he was told, "Couldn't be. The computer has no record of it." My husband explained that he was calling from room 206 and we'd been there a week already. After a few more tries, the computer coughed up our records. It seems the front desk fellow had entered the K correctly, but got the rest wrong.

Karten, that's C-A-R
Once your name gets into the computer wrong, it's almost easier to change it to the wrong version than get it fixed. Clearly, though, the real culprit isn't the computer but the people using the computer. It's people who mean to listen, but fall short. People who, though well-intentioned, become distracted and fail to pay attention.

It's frustrating when service personnel insinuate that because they can't find your name, you must be mistaken. A sincere apology and the promise to fix the error would go a long way towards making things right. But such apologies, in my experience, are rare.

After grousing about it for years, I've concluded that the only thing to do is to take more responsibility for the situation. So, now, when giving my name to Those Who Handle Records, I preface the spelling by emphasizing that my name is frequently misspelled and I'd appreciate it if they'd record it correctly. This approach seems to help.

What about you? Do you ever spell names wrong because you didn't pay attention? As a member of the Frequently Misspelled, I feel a special obligation not to do to others what is so often done to me. And I confess, I still goof every now and then. But I'm trying.

(Signed) Your friend, Naomi Karten-with-a-K


About the Author
Website: www.nkarten.com

Naomi Karten has always been fascinated by human behavior. Her background includes a B.A. and M.A. in psychology and extensive corporate experience in technical, customer support and management positions.

Since forming her own business in 1984, she has presented seminars and keynotes to more than 100,000 people internationally. Her services, books and newsletters have helped organizations and groups

• Manage customer expectations,
• Enhance their communications and consulting skills,
• Provide superior customer service, and
• Establish successful service level agreements.

She is the author of several books including:

Communication Gaps and How to Close Them, which provides strategies and guidelines for improved communication in such contexts as building strong relationships, delivering superior service, fostering effective teamwork, and managing change

Managing Expectations: Working With People Who Want More, Better, Faster, Sooner, NOW!, which offers a serious, lighthearted look (yes, both!) at policies and practices for successfully managing expectations in the workplace

How to Establish Service Level Agreements, a handbook based on more than a decade of experience providing SLA consulting and seminars internationally and which is designed to help you avoid the flaws and failures she encounters so often