Who Are You?

I heard a woman telling of how when she would go to the video store they would ask her which of the two names was hers on the account, not being able to determine since her name resembled a boys names and her husband's name was unique.

Often I will be introduced to someone as Brook, while my wife is standing with me, and they will reach out and try to shake hands with my wife.

You're Name Isn't Brook...Is It?

I went to get my oil changed and safety and emissions inspections done.  In an attempt to be able to call me by my first name, the attendant looks over my van registration and says, "You're name isn't Brook..." and after catching himself in mid sentence and pondering a moment, "...is it?"  He then tried to recover by starting to say that he had never heard of a guy with that name before.  As he was saying it I think he realized how some could take offense to that and continued on with the information he needed to convey to me.

Yet another victim of the mesmerizing name.  How do you go about that?  If you have never heard it as a boys name, how do you ask if it is their name?  It is awkward if you ask what their name is when you have the paper right in front of you.  It is awkward if you ask if their name is Brook.  If it is indeed a girl's name as you have assumed, then you feel like a dope.  If you ask the way he did that can also be awkward.

The guy was definitely in an unenviable position.  I, on the other hand, got material for my blog.  A hundred and some dollars is a small price to pay for such material.  Don't you think?

Missed Opportunity

We were in a men's meeting at church a couple of week ago and they were asking for volunteers to load up pick-up trucks at a woman's house and drive them around the block to a dumpster.  My next door neighbor, whose wife's name is Brooke and who I was sitting right in front of, says that he has a pick-up, but he is not going to be available.  He then says, "Brook could drive it over."

I was too slow to turn it around on him and ask him if his wife knew he was volunteering her.