I've been trying to sort out a situation for an older neighbour who had some work done on her car by a local garage. When she went to collect it there was a power cut and they couldn't print out her invoice and the guarantee, but they promised to email it to her. She has a very simple email address and it includes her first name, Mary.
After a few days with no sign of her invoice or receipt from them she called and was told that the email had been sent the day after she picked up her car. She searched, couldn't find it and asked them to send it again. On each occasion she spelled out her email address letter by letter and the person on the other end of the phone told her the address was correct. After making the third call and being told she'd been sent it and yes, the address was correct, she came to me to ask for advice. She was beginning to wonder if she'd been scammed: maybe they hadn't done any of the work they were supposed to do and had just billed her and were trying to avoid giving her any paperwork?
Today I double-checked her email at her request (she's pretty internet savvy) and there was no record of them having contacted her. As I was planning to go to the supermarket in that direction I took her to the garage (quite a large set-up) and stood with her while she explained the problem yet again. They looked at their system and smirked a bit and said they'd resent it to her three times. There was an older man who wasn't au fait with their invoicing system, and two younger guys, and they really weren't taking her seriously. After a while I intervened and checked with them that they'd got the email address correct. Yes, they said. I spelled it out letter by letter. Yes, they said. I said I'd checked and there was no sign of it. 'She must have deleted it,' they said. I asked them to send it again, right now, so we could open it on her phone. They did. Nada.
I asked to see the screen. Her name is Mary and she and I both pronounce it in the standard way — not Scots Mari or Welsh Mair or anything else. They'd spelled it Marri and when we'd both said M for Mother, A for Alpha, R for Romeo, Y for Yankee they'd said yes, that's what we've got down.
I'm gobsmacked. I can't help wondering whether they can be any good at what they do if they can't spell a well-known, simple name correctly. The garage is recommended by the RAC and is apparently assessed each year. Among the criteria applied, it's supposed to offer excellent customer service — yet they were clearly ageist and they spoke down to Mary as if she was an idiot. Would you expect anyone to be able to spell Mary and would you complain to the RAC about this situation?
Right now I'm confident and bolshy enough to deal with stuff like this, but it was a clear demonstration of ageist assumptions and frankly, it scares me. It won't be many years before I'm in Mary's shoes, as good as being called an idiot by a man who can't spell Mary.