Don’t Mind Us, Just Giggling Into Our T

This story reminded me of a very similar situation that happened in the mid- to late 1990s. I was the email administrator and lead support person for a small (~150 people) branch within a much larger company.

The company standard email naming convention was the employee’s last name (up to seven characters) followed by their first initial. Therefore, somebody named John Smith would be assigned the email address “smithj at [Company] dot com.” This worked all right, but exceptions often had to be made because somebody else (e.g., Jane Smith) might already have “smithj,” leaving John with “jsmith” or some other variation.

We had a secretary who had worked in one office for decades — a sweet older lady who had never used a computer before. But times were changing, and even though she could type something close to ninety words per minute on an electric typewriter, she had recently been given a computer and was doing her best to learn how to use it properly. It was my task to get her account created and configure her email client software.

However, I anticipated a problem before account creation and went to discuss it with her.

I’m shortening her first name to just her first initial, T, for this story, but I can’t change her last name without ruining the story.

Me: “T, typically [Company] email addresses are formatted as your last name followed by your first initial. But we can and do make exceptions when it’s warranted, so I’m going to switch it around for you — first initial followed by last name, instead. Okay?”

T: “Oh, no. I don’t want to break the rules. Just use the same format everybody else has.”

Me: “It’s really no problem. Even my email address doesn’t match the standard naming convention, because somebody else already had mine when I started here.”

T: “No, I don’t want any fuss made. Please follow the rules.”

She seemed so earnest that I felt sure she must not have realized what “following the rules” would entail. But I felt like it would be rude if I pressed her on the issue — as if I was saying she shouldn’t be allowed to decide for herself. A little reluctantly, I did as she asked. 

It took only two days before she caught me in the hallway and pulled me to the side. She had a worried look on her face. 

T: “I’ve changed my mind. Can you fix my email now to switch my first initial and last name around, or is it too late?”

Me: “No problem, T. I’ll have it changed in ten minutes.”

And that’s how Ms. T. Farr ended up with the email address “tfarr at [Company] dot com” instead of the alternative.

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