Earlier in the week I got a phone call from one of the managers in Germany and he was a bit pissed off at some of the antics that some of the people in our little Japanese subsidiary had been up to and which had taken quite a bit of resources for him, only to find out that it had all been a waste.He asked some questions about the people involved and their positions and one of the is named "Tetsuhiko" in first name and the manager angrily tried to pronounce the name and it went something like this "so this guy... this Tet ,this Tets, Teshuk,Tet-whatever it is you call him". The frustration in trying to pronounce the name and how the frustration turned to angry indifference was quite interesting.
I liked it, a sublime way of some minor cultural racism in the company but since I was tired I didn't call him on it and just quickly finished the call and asked him to talk to some other people.
Not every day can be all fun and games...
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3 comments:
That's actually pretty common in the US whenever someone has problems with a name. Turning the anger from yourself to the person's name is pretty much par for the course.
Of course, it's a really bad idea, but that doesn't seem to stop them.
Them pesky furriners with their weird names - it's all their fault!
Lucky he doesn't have to pronounce a Thai or Indian name. People everywhere should just be called Karl.
Will... Willi... Bill-or-whatever your name really is, sure, fine, whatever you say!
Aimless - Good point, and it should always be spelled with a "K" so as to avoid any confusion!
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