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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Wearing a name badge at work

96 replies

Darkestnight · 05/01/2019 15:27

I have to wear a name badge at work but would just prefer a id card instead. I really don't like having my name on public show and if anyone wanted my name I would just give it or show my id badge.
Aibu to not want my name on show. I know it's part of my uniform and wear it but I prefer it if I didn't have to wear it.

OP posts:

bookmum08 · 05/01/2019 19:55

Ex retail worker here.
I hated it. Strangers do not need to know my name because I happen to scan some barcodes of products they are buying.
If a customer had a complaint or problem it could be traced back to who served them on the till by a series of numbers on the reciept that were essentially the staff member number that managers would who it is. If it was an issue with a member of staff on the sales floor then they should ask to see the manager then and there. Deal with the problem then and there - the customer does not need the staff members name to complain about them. The manager will deal with the staff member. That's their job.
And if someone wants to praise a member of staff - well then a nice "Thank you. You have been very helpful with my shopping today" to the staff members face is much better.
It isn't needed. I don't care or need to know the name of the person who serves me in Tesco, or at a coffee shop, or sells me train tickets, or drives the bus, or is a local postman, or dustman, or is at reception at the swimming pool or the 101 other people that are around me getting on with their lives as I get on with mine. If I want someone to know my name I will tell them.

Strongmummy · 05/01/2019 19:59

I loathe name badges. A person’s name is theirs and theirs to share. Forcing you to share your name with randoms is humiliating in my view. I also don’t get why some pp care who is serving them!

Use an alias

PoutySprout · 05/01/2019 20:31

Oh well, that's far more important than the personal safety of staff

It may be to a patient/vulnerable person.

adaline · 05/01/2019 20:45

There's absolutely no need for Joe Public to know your name if you don't want them to. Most workplaces allow you to use a pseudonym so long as it's consistent across the board.

I also find the customers who want to know your name and other personal details about you are the ones who get the most offended when you ask for their name/postcode/e-mail at the till, because "they don't want to give away their personal information".

PoutySprout · 05/01/2019 21:04

There's absolutely no need for Joe Public to know your name if you don't want them to. Most workplaces allow you to use a pseudonym so long as it's consistent across the board.

Apart from the biggest employer in the UK........

MrsWillGardner · 05/01/2019 21:10

In my field of work, our clients get a list of the prople that will go to them. Details listed are always Miss/Mrs/Ms/Mr, Jane/John, middle name if it was entered on the system and surname.

I’m one of the lucky few who just has their name written ‘normally’ without details of middle names but I think it’s generally odd to put a title because it’s irrelevant to the client.

Platypusfattypus · 05/01/2019 21:13

I used to be a probation officer and for work I kept my maiden name as my married name was more unusual. You can control the privacy on social media and make it harder for people to find you. I don’t see the issue with a name badge.

foxtiger · 05/01/2019 21:14

Wish I could but work have printed my full name when I never am I called my full name as I have shortened it down.

I think if I had to wear a name, I would rather have my full name that I never use. It would mean that if anyone got over-friendly and tried to call me by my first name I couldn't possibly be "won over" as I would know, by the use of my rarely used formal name, that this was not a friend.

adaline · 05/01/2019 21:15

Apart from the biggest employer in the UK........

Which I think is wrong. As long as someone can be identified to management, does it matter if they're known by adaline or Jane or Sue Smith as long as that person is identifiable by the same name at all times?

JennyFisher12 · 05/01/2019 21:19

I’d rather remain anonymous

MrsWillGardner · 05/01/2019 21:24

@RomanyRoots

Name badges tell us who to complain about or praise and we know how to refer to you. It makes it a personal transaction.
I suppose you could change job to a factory, or warehouse, they don't wear them there.

Wrong. Yes they do. I know a few people who work in a factory, are not customer facing in any shape and their names are embroidered on to their polo tops and their sweatshirts.

twoshedsjackson · 05/01/2019 21:31

I went off name badges after an Open Morning at school; I returned home without removing the badge from my jacket, and a friend glanced at the left hand portion of my ample bosom before commenting, "Oh yes, what's the other one called......?"

AllyPallyMally · 05/01/2019 21:32

Well I must live in a parallel universe. I work in retail. Wear a badge with first name only, never a problem. Means some customers treat me like the human being I am rather than a machine. Also the number of NHS, school, insurance company employees who come to my checkout after work still wearing their work lanyards with full names and job role means I could, if I so wished track down more of my customers than they could me. If they were mners they would surely whip the lanyards off the second they leave their place of work.

Original poster

Darkestnight · 05/01/2019 21:56

Exactly I can be tracked quite easily with my number on the till roll as there are only a few staff working in the evening on my department so not hard to trace me.

I will ask the manager when I'm in next why I cannot have a fake name on my badge. It's not like the customer would know me only if it's a friend or relative and they would not say anything anyway.

OP posts:

VampirateQueen · 05/01/2019 23:36

It's mainly for when test purchasers come in, they have to get the name of the person that served them, so if needed, they can be prosecuted.

DSHathawayGivesMeFannyGallops · 05/01/2019 23:55

Wore one very briefly in a role in retail. I didn't really mind as it was quite hard to read but IME people who insist on using your name- having leered at your boobs to read it or forced you to repeat it on the phone -are usually dickwads doing it for effect. It's meant to vaguely intimidate but it just makes my flesh crawl. Twats on a power trip. Weirdly, I didn't mind my name on receipts; most customers didn't even see them!

There are plenty of ways to ID staff. Till IDs on receipts. Describe staff and their outfit or tell us when you were here so we can ref the rota. Repeatedly saying "KATIE" to someone is just irritating.

FiggyFudgePot · 06/01/2019 00:39

wifipasswordis I thought Chevonne was pronounced Che (as in cheese) vonne.
OP if you think wearing a name badge is bad try working in healthcare where not only do you have to wear a name badge but you also have to have your photo displayed on a display board with your full name and irrelevant info like whats your favourite quote and why, who's your fave artist, what fairytale character represents you and why.

Seren85 · 06/01/2019 01:02

I can't remember if my name badge had my full name on it when I worked in retail. I do remember we were offered a fake name. Similarly when I worked in a call centre we had name badges and had to give out full names if asked during a call but could have a pseudonym. I wasn't concerned about giving my name out and never wore my badge outside the office but I can understand that there are circumstances where it would be a genuine safety issue. No teacher or social worker I know has their real name as their FB name to avoid being found. I have a name badge for work, it is my access pass and meant to be used so that anyone without a pass is challenged. I work in a field whereby I could potentially encounter angry or violent people so never wear it out of work and use a variation of my name on social media with tight security settings. No issue with first names on badges for retail etc but the option of a fake name and no surnames would be ideal IMO.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 06/01/2019 01:17

Just get one made up with a fake name. That can be your "work name".

Shoppy McShopFace

Now it’s sewn onto our scrub tops! My names used fifteen times a day and I don’t like it.

Wear it inside out and then they’ll think your name is Alexandra Workwear or Johnson Sapparelmaster.

MarcieBluebell · 06/01/2019 01:23

Ynbu. It was always the pervy ones in the bar that loved to call me by name.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 06/01/2019 01:28

We had a parcel delivered a little while ago and they gave us the full name, photo and little biography of the delivery man in the tracking details.

It got me seriously wondering if I was expected to invite him in for an afternoon cream tea and add him to the Christmas card list.

It seemed quite creepy and intrusive to me and I thought at the time that I would have hated it if it had been me doing his job. I only cared about where my parcel was and when it would be arriving - I couldn't care less who brought it, as long as they were reasonably friendly (which he very much was - maybe scared not to be now I knew all about him to plot my revenge on him )

I think the big problem is that of the imbalance in relationship.

If you're a teacher or HCP, you have all of the personal details of the child/patient, and often get to know them quite well, so by also giving them your name and basic details, you're demonstrating a mutual balance of trust.

If any old stranger can just walk into a shop and take a tin of beans to be scanned and then pay for it with cash, they get to keep full anonymity themselves - so why should they get to know your full name just for scanning it and taking their money?

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