Work email

[lmnabc]

This is a work situation which I don't have an issue with but always wonder about:

My email address is Jennifer.Blogs@ but I always sign my name as "With best wishes, Jenny" and my email signature underneath is Jenny Blogs.

The majority of people reply with Dear Jennifer rather than Dear Jenny. Is it that people have an issue with shortened names? Just interested.

I have the opposite issue, my name is Elizabeth and everyone calls me Liz. It makes me madder than it should!

I would notice, but if their name in the 'from' box is different, I'd assume they don't mind either way so I wouldn't overthink it.

If OP cares to the extent that she'd be rude to someone who used the name stated on her email 'from' line, then she needs to take some ownership and get it properly changed.

..which is when you meet IT 'rules'.

'No, you can't change the format, everybody's email account is set up like this, we don't change Anthony Jones in Accounts' name to Tony unless there's also an Anthony Jones in Sales and another worked here in Legal ten years ago, it's all pulled from the HR record for Legal name....'

I often exchange emails with a Vicki. She signs off as Vicki but her email address says Vicky. It's confusing. I try to go with what she prefers, if I remember.

Gmail auto fills the name when you are responding to an email.

If you sent me an email signed off with “Jenny”, I’d reply with that. If I didn’t know you and hadn’t corresponded before I’d use “Jennifer”.

People are idiots/work on autopilot though, I used to get loads of replies “Dear Surname” which isn’t a traditional first name 🙄 I felt sorry for my poor assistant Angus though, whose G would often be missed out.

People don't read emails properly. My office phone number is at the bottom of every single email I send, but numerous people say "what's your number?" or "why don't you give your number?". I do quite like the absence of phone calls though 😂

I think this happens because people are just typing whatever name they see in the email address they are replying to. I often do this and then only notice after the fact that I probably should have written Suzy rather than Suzanne or whatever. Usually because I'm rushing or just not paying attention - no offence intended!

There is no way that a company could get away with not letting you be called by your preferred name.

It's offensive and probably breaks some kind of EDI rule.

They're using legal names. They can insist upon this. As the law only refers to gender reassignment, they're not even required to change it for somebody who hasn't commenced that process, never mind a grumpy old woman who doesn't have a problem with her email address, it's people using the name that identifies her on the exchange profile - her full legal name - that irritates.

Many workplaces pull it from HR legal name so only if you change your legal name can you change your work email.

The UK doesn't have legal names.

Haha, as someone with a double barrel, no hyphen surname who’s job-hopped a lot, I come up against the IT rules a lot. And a lot of “OK, but that’s not my name” email addresses.

If you would prefer to be known as Jenny then have IT change your email to Jenny.Blogs

I use full names even if someone replies Dave I will write dear David and if I had to refer to you in a report i would call you Mrs bloggs to be polite. Women are difficult as you can't be sure Mrs is correct so I will check. I'm a professional so not using friendly language. I also don't ever start work emails with a Hi but hello is accepted.

If you are Jennifer then surely addressing you as Jennifer is not offensive or inappropriate?

Using Jenny could potentially be over familiar.

That's why my work email is my shortened name and surname. So I get called what I like.

But what I do is check how they have signed their name on their last email to me. If it's a new contact I use full name unless they've indicated otherwise.

I'm sure it's just people responding to the name they're seeing. I sometimes don't notice when a person has a shortening in their actual signature. If I do see it, I use it. But it's easily missed I think!

I'll tell the multi million pound UK company that supplies our MIS that. And then the almost as large IT company that uses the MIS to run Exchange and manage the Roaming profiles.

Or I could just look at the field on our MIS that says legal surname and legal forename and tell myself that somebody on mumsnet thinks it doesn't exist. Or the national database that requires legal name to be entered. Or the entry fields for DBS checks...