To refuse to call him by his stupid nickname??

[PonyPals]

So we have a brand new staff member in my team who has a perfectly sensible name - Steven but has decided to use some ridiculously stupid nickname he made up - Sonty
And he is now constantly correcting all of us and insisting we use his nickname. I am his manager. I feel silly even uttering Sonty. Yet he corrects me every time I say Steven.
Aibi to want to take Sonty and shove it up his bum!
PS not his real name or moronic nickname but they are similar to what I said.

Would have been so much better if you'd just given the name in the OP. Before your name reveal all YABU. Big reeve also the you'll have all YANBU.

Obviously not 100% for anyone feeling literal.

I think YANBU and he's being a silly boy. Dazza...

I don't think you're being unreasonable. It's unprofessional of him to insist on being called a daft nickname. Especially if he's client facing. I used to be known affectionately as Koala at school; I wouldn't ask my colleagues to call me this. He needs to grow up and be more professional.

OP I'm with you on this one. I'd want to snort with laughter every time I said it

I don't think you're being unreasonable. It's unprofessional of him to insist on being called a daft nickname. Especially if he's client facing. I used to be known affectionately as Koala at school; I wouldn't ask my colleagues to call me this. He needs to grow up and be more professional.

I think you could risk being accused of bullying if you don't refer to him by his preferred name in internal situations (ie not in front of clients etc). By refusing to call him Dazza, silly as it seems, he could claim you are creating a hostile work environment in which he can't relax. I have represented a member (as a union rep) in a similar case. I was sceptical that this would be taken seriously but there was an.investigation and the manager was asked to start using the nickname. It wasn't quite as jazzy as Dazza (think Veronica shortened to Ronnie) but it's worth thinking about.

Awww... love the photo of Sooty.

See, this is why you don't dripfeed. Classic diminutives of names - Catherine wants Cathy, or Thomas is known as Tommy - then fine. If people are happy being known by them in the workplace, fine. They're not jarring.

Dazza is not a classic nickname suitable for the workplace. I was about to share my anecdote of working with a high profile financial company, and was asked to show someone through, and they gave their name as Gazza.

I said "I'm sorry?" and he repeated 'Gazza'. Well, quite frankly I was not about to embarrass myself by introducing fucking "Gazza" to my management team. I avoided using his name entirely. Personally I felt like he was being a deliberate wanker about it.

So, no you're not being unreasonable. However it's a little tricky to navigate, as I suppose logically there's no reason Stephen should be permitted Steve if Darren can't have Dazza and Sharon can't have Shazza. It's more a culture issue... maybe even a class issue, if he chooses to make it one ("Oh, so you poshos can be called Cathy and Meg and Bram, but I can't be fookin' Dazza?")

YANBU. Dazza is awful. And the fact he's given himself that nickname!

This reminds me of that Seinfeld episode when George Costanza decided he wanted to be known as T-bone at work. Didn't work out well for him.

Dazza isn't really a shortening of Darren though, is it?

It's a generic "zza" ending that some people use for a mates name.

LOL LOL LOL ParadiseCity

I hope his last name is Ling?

V funny taste of MN norms.

OP: "Junior employee insists on being called by casual nickname but I don't want to"
MN hive mind: assumes that nn is Jonty "Oh don't be so uptight OP, you should absolutely call him by whatever his chosen name is unless it's 'twatface'"
OP: "By the way it's Dazza"
MN Hive mind: "Dear heavens no! What if someone important heard it?! shock"

^ This.

Did he ask to be called Dazza in his interview? If he didn't then I think you could probably get away with saying it wasn't the name he was offered the job with and that he can be called Dazza in the office but has to be introduced as Darren to clients.

If he had the sheer brass balls to ask to be called Dazza in the interview then I think you'll have to go with Dazza and practice keeping a straight face.

I worked in the deep south of the US several years ago had a two trainee staff members, no joke, called Pussy and Dick. Both were their real names and not nicknames, they had Pussy and Dick on their birth certificates. Apparently Pussy's mother was a big James Bond fan . I often had to take them both with me for meetings, it did wonders for my poker face abilities having to introduce them to clients and agencies. I used to get a lot of "are you serious" faces when I introduced them.
They were both amazing and lovely people though and I used to get very defensive about it on their behalf, despite being able to see why people were .

I don't think I could call somebody Dazza.

Molly Sooty is my hero

I think I missed something regarding Sonty though....was Sonty actually Dazza?

I was going to say you were being unreasonable when I thought his name was Jonty, but Dazza!!? Sorry-I'm 100% with you there. That's a nickname to use when out with the lads-it's not professional for work.

This reminds me of that Seinfeld episode when George Costanza decided he wanted to be known as T-bone at work. Didn't work out well for him.
I used to work with someone named Catherine. After working here for about five years, she started signing email with "Kitty". People were confused. It didn't take.

diddl, I thought the "zza" endings were only for names that had an "r" in them?
Sharon, Gary etc.

Go the route of the Mum of the Holby City character who calls himself Dominic when his real names Darren - call him 'Dazzle'.

YABU. Everyone is entitled to a name and/or a preferred name.
He can call himself Donald Trump if he wants.

This is by far the best thread I've read today.

FreeNiki, you need to keep up . But Sooty would def be a better name than Dazza

he sounds like a twat-doesnt sound like the sort of place he shold be using his nickname

I did miss something then molly

Love this one.

"diddl, I thought the "zza" endings were only for names that had an "r" in them?"

I suppose so-what I mean is though that it's applied to a few names so not really (imo) a specific shortening for Darren.

YANBU - you're his manager, not his boozing buddy. No harm in a bit of professionalism in the workplace.

How on earth is Daisy a common shortening of Margaret?!