to get really annoyed by people who asked you to spell your surname... AND THEN DONT LISTEN...!

[TheGoldenOwl]

this happens to me on a frequent basis, for my entire life and entering my fourth decade I really get annoyed by it. Obviously I won't say my surname here. It is two syllables long and starts with a consonant followed by two vowels, another consonant, a vowel and two more consonant. It is not hard, if you just literally say what is in front of you.... which is two words that already exisit in the english language on their own. I am often asked to spell it.

That's no problem; I really dont mind and totally understandable for someone wanting to make aure they get the right info. What does annoy me is when they then don't listen to the sequence of letters that I proceed to say slowly. And i always speak slowly enough for someone to write or type it down.

Like how hard is it?! I say a letter, you write it down, I say the next one you write that down... WTF

Sincerely,
Someone who wishes they were called Smith.

It depends how slowly you really say it. I'm in a line of work when I have to ask for people's surname on the phone. The speed at which they spell it is ridiculous. I can spell my name quickly too but I understand that it's harder to process the letters when you don't know what to expect next.

If you're experiencing this regularly, it is almost certainly because you are not as slow as you think you are.

But if i go any slower it will look like I am insulting their intelligence, which I dont want to do either! Seriously ... if I go any slower it will be rude.

I really think it is a case of people not listening. Or their brain jumping ahead

My Dad has struggled with this his whole life as we have a surname that isn't spelt how you'd expect, but I learnt a hack in my twenties. Don't spell it, break it down into other words.

Let's say your name is Edensor which is pronounced Enzer. You say "my name is Edensor which is spelt E, D..." they aren't listening and write Endser.

Instead say "Eden, like the garden, then S O R".

It's not just you. Even when it's in front of people they still spell it wrong. It's Scottish / English and I still have to tell people how to pronounce it

It's the same with so many things now.

Do you need a bag? Yes, please. Don't get one.

Cheese and toasted? No thanks.... Oh, no cheese, thanks. Cheese is flicked back off sandwich.

A double vodka and coke, please. Sure, single or double?

YANBU. My first name is common but has two spellings. My last name is the same as a fairly well known place. There are fewer than 10 letters in my entire name. No-one can correctly write it down after I've spelled it out to them and no-one will say it correctly even when I've just said it to them. I do not understand how this happens. If I have to give my email address in a shop, I insist on typing it into the screen myself because otherwise they spell it wrongly and I do not get the receipt.

Say my name was Sara Yorke, but my last name is pronounced the same as the city (it's not obviously). If I give my name, I will say Sara Yorke, Sara without a H, Yorke with an e. They will write down/key in Sarah York and if they then have to give my name to someone else, say to them Sara York-ie is here to see you. Utterly baffling, I've had 50 years of it and it doesn't change and it's a surprise when someone does get my name right.

I think YABU to assume they're not listening.

I also think my name is very easy (two syllables) but lots of people get confused when I spell it for them.

What annoys me are the people who mispell it via email. My name is literally right there, just copy and paste it if you need to, but get it right.

Sara Yorke, Sara without a H, Yorke with an e.

See, that would confuse a lot of people if they heard that instruction,

Not all brains are geared the same way. I know people with a first in English at university who would stall if you gave them those instructions.

My DH has a common name with two spellings - both well known but his is the rarer of the two. I have written his name in every card since we met and in texts etc to my mum yet she STILL spells it the more common way. I think she thinks I’m misspelling it?!

I have the exact same kind of name. I say "York like the town but with an E on the end" and it works. When I used to say "York with an E" I sometimes got Yerk. Not enough eye rolls!

My first name has 5 possible spellings and mine is one of the most common. Despite this, my aunt and cousin have never spelled it the right way. It annoys me so much. They use a variety of spellings so it's not that they're got one particular spelling in their heads. Neither have any problem spelling in general.

Graeme?

I've got an unusual surname that's also a fairly common noun, but could be spelt differently. So I add a line at the end to clarify otherwise people just misspell it even after me spelling it out. For example, my name is Flower, f l o w e r, like you get in a bouquet.

I hear you.

My surname is relatively common but is spelt differently than the common version iyswim. So for example like Jackson but spelt Jaqueson.

I frequently start spelling it out, just to watch the other person type it the other way.

So irritating.

Yeah this is the kind of problem I had and in that example I'd say "Flower spelt like shower" rather than spelling it.

I think if it happens to you a lot it must be something to do with how clearly you speak. I oftne have to spell my name, but people don't get it wrong once I have.

I spell it first these days. I’m a Mac and it drives me mad when people ignore me telling them it’s M-A-C and just assume it’s Mc, so I spell it. The Mc version is not my name!

I struggle with people spelling out their surname - my brain just doesn't work that way. I'm degree educated, and have run my own business, but people spelling out their names has always been a problem for me.

I discovered this when I learned to touch-type many years ago. I had to listen to a recorded voice and type out what they said. If the voice said 'Mrs Brown went to the bank' I could type that no problem. But if they voice said 'M R S space B R O W N space' and so on, I really struggled with it.

Be a bit patient if someone needs you to repeat your name, or spell it again, or spell it slowly. They're truly not trying to do it on purpose, and neither are they stupid. They most likely are listening, their brain just hasn't computed what you said yet.

Urgh, I am so glad I lost my maiden name. Spelt phonetically 3 words in row.

Worse through is my first name, there are 2 spellings I can cope with that. It’s the abbreviating it, so bloody rude especially in email - just copy & paste folks!

Fellow Mac here. I usually say name, then spell immediately, but this doesn’t work. They still just put Mc.
You are right. I shouldn’t say the name first. When they ask, I’ll just start spelling it out. M, A, pause, give them time to write both, (maybe aske them to read it back to me?😜) then say the C.

And yet look how often people write MacDonalds for the fast food chain. It's not like their name isn't well known.

I have the same problem.

For people working in customer service, I just go straight into the phonetic alphabet as most of them will know it. So instead of saying it's Sara without an "h" or whatever, I will just say "my first name is spelt Sierra Alpha Romeo Alpha". Of course you get the odd person who doesn't understand, but most will.

My surname is as common and easily spelt as Smith yet still people constantly ask me how to spell it. For fuck's sake.

Maybe because of the Big Mac? I’m confused now. So perhaps I should be a bit more forgiving 🤦‍♀️

My first name is often assumed to start with a different letter, as that's a more common spelling. So I say my name and immediately 'spelled xxxxxxx' but by the time I say the first letter, the person has usually already written/typed the wrong one and has to go back and change it. This is less annoying now that people rarely fill in paper forms!