Folks, my mind is blown. We have a new day-shift manager who is trying the most ridiculous flex of power I've ever seen and is demanding I replace my name tag because they feel as though I'm lying to the customers about what my actual name is. He has even gone as far as to order me a new one, which I have already told him I will not wear. This is a retail job that I'm doing currently while I put myself through school and I work Monday-Friday 8-4 and then I head to night-school.
Without saying what my name is (perhaps some of you can sleuth it out), I'll describe the situation. I have a VERY common white name that is 11 characters long. The GRAND majority of the world goes by the first 5 as a short-form. I, however, since I was 8 have gone by the last 6 characters of my first name because in my grade school class that year there were 5 of us in the class with the same first name, creating a scenario in which each had to take on a different nickname, this was mine and it has stuck… even my parents call me it.
Conversation:
Manager: “You're going to need to change your nametag, we want our customers to be able to refer to our specialists by their name.”
me: “This is my name.”
Manager: “That's not a real name, you can't just choose to name yourself.”
me: “I haven't, this has been my name almost as long as I can remember. Just because my full name is something else does not mean I'm required to go by the characters you believe represent the short form of it.”
Manager: “I'm going to withhold your shifts if you don't wear a different one. I've already ordered it.”
Me: “I'm pretty confident that is illegal, you can't hold my shifts over my head because I won't change my name to suit your ideal picture of what a white guys name should be. Are you telling me that if my name was Patrick I couldn't go by Rick? Because that's what you're saying.”
Manager: “But Rich is an established name.”
Me: “So is mine, please see _______ who is a famous person who uses this portion of their name as well.”
Manager: “I'm not going to play this game, you can't choose how to short form your name. The established, accurate, and recognized short form of your name is ____ so I expect to see you wearing that name tag when it comes in.”
me: “Accurate? _____ is only 5 characters of 11, ______ is 6. By percentage it is actually more representative of my full name than the 5 characters are. But if you want to keep pushing, I dont actually need this job. I'd be happy to get fired for wanting to go by my established name for 12 years and would be more than happy to sue for wrongful dismissal. Balls in your court mate.”
He walked away really angry and for the last two days has been all over me looking for a reason to fire me or get me in trouble. What kind of fucked up flex is this?