I've been going to our neighborhood YMCA for nearly 8 months now....I say as I'm currently finishing off a bag of doritos .... So nearly 8 months and I've been going to pretty much the same exercise classes for that whole time. Zumba, step, PiYo, and weight lifting. I'm pretty sure only one of my exercise teachers knows my name. If someone had faithfully been coming to your class once a week for months, wouldn't you bother to learn her name eventually? Well the one teacher who knows my name, at first thought it was Madison. She would call me Madison and I would correct her and after a couple a weeks she knew my name!
Our morning gym classes are an odd mix of stay at home moms in their 30s, nurses, and retired women in their 60s...and 70s Well one of the retirees who comes to almost all the same classes I do, picked up on my name the weeks it was "Madison" and although I've tried to correct her a couple times, I'm now Madison to her. And she uses it like 'hey I know your name so now every sentence I say to you will address you as Madison, Madison.' AAAAAAA So awkward. Cause now she'll say like, "Well look at Madison over there..." to other people in the class and I think it's starting to confuse them/cause them to think I am Madison.
I think another layer of the problem here is that I'm not outgoing enough/people in my gym classes aren't friendly enough. I'm more of the -I'll gladly speak, when spoken to- type. We just don't know each others names or anything about each other for that matter. I've truly failed in my outreach to community members as I just put two and two together and realized last week, a woman who goes to one of the classes I do, is in our ward directory as "letter contact only". Oh the opportunities I may have if I had been spending the last 8 months opening my mouth, talking to her, or to anybody. Sheesh. It's hard for me okay?
Anyway, back to Madison, it's such an awkward situation when someone thinks they know your name and after X amount of time goes by, you don't have the heart to tell them otherwise. I guess it can work out as one of my friends ending up marrying someone she called the wrong name for the first 2 weeks of knowing him!
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
December 2013
kissing that baby in the reflection sept. 2009
Nov 2009
high school sweethearts
Is a Harry Potter reading fool!
she loves dogs and can crack an egg like a pro
"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts" ...and in the wings of my stage, there is music.
Today is Beautiful
Moms in Front of the Camera Intiative
December 2013
Looking Back 4 years
kissing that baby in the reflection sept. 2009
Looking Back 4 years!
Nov 2009
Mr. and Mrs.
high school sweethearts
Who? Me?
Elliott
Is a Harry Potter reading fool!
Lily
she loves dogs and can crack an egg like a pro
To remind me of the bigger picture
5 comments:
HAH! i loved this post! (and the pumpkin post before it - i can't WAIT to make those mini muffins! they sound so scrumptious! and i'm craving pumpkin bread right now, anyways! mmmmm....) anyways, i'm so sorry about the awkwardness of the whole "senile-woman-thinking-you're-madison". haha. and i TOTALLY know what you mean about not reaching out to people in your exercise classes - i'm the same way! although i've never, ever felt bad about it before, but that's because i just would feel MORE awkward having a friend see me sweat to the extreme and kick like a dork every week - that's why i never invited my husband or any of my friends to my workout classes (well, i think i invited you once...but that was an exception! hehe) so bottom line: no feeling bad! it's okay to stay anonymous in workout classes, i think :) love and miss you! i'm off to the kitchen to make pumpkin bread (thanks for inspiring me!)
I really hope that you're not referring to me because I think I called David the wrong name for a lot longer than two weeks. That fact alone, of course, does nothing to demonstrate my good nature, character, and the fact that I really do care about other people. Really. There you have it. At least I never called him the wrong name to his face - that could have been rather awkward! :) By the way, there is a woman in your old ward that calls me Melanie 95% of the time! And that is perfectly okay, because I know she knows my real name and that her elderly brain is just in denial. Besides, I love her to death as she is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met! :)
Boy do I know this problem well! It is quite possibly my biggest pet peeve. Plus I'm just as outgoing as you are and I'm quiet. Bad combination.
On the other side: My neighbor introduced herself once and Matt and I have no idea what her name is. She has a really thick accent which made it hard to understand. By the time we realized that the other didn't know either it was way to long to ask her. We've had to just nod and smile and be friendly to make up for it.
I didn't know Alex's name and guessed at a dance instruction activity...he'd finally gotten up the nerve to introduce himself the Monday before. I asked him to dance with me, and said "it's Chris, right?" He married me anyway, but I use it as an excuse to be horrible with names!
I can't relate to people confusing my name (the one blessing of having the most common name in America) but Somebody gets the name confusion thing all the time. Seriously. And we dated for probably three weeks before I called him by name because I was so worried about saying it wrong. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice.
Post a Comment