How do you tell your boss she's been calling you by the wrong name?

Question

...since September? She's now doing it in front of my students! On a regular basis!

let me clarify: she hasn't been calling me the wrong name the entire time, just at random intervals, but now it's getting continuous. My last name is Thompson...shouldn't be hard to pronounce or remember, and she's calling me by the name of someone else in the building that looks nothing like me (except we're both white...) and whose name sounds nothing like mine. It really came to a head the other day when in the middle of an awards ceremony she stopped, looked right at me and said, "Smith, do you have anything to add?" Three times...ignoring didn't work and I figured it wasn't the venue to correct her.

Answer 1

wear a name tag.

Answer 2

You should have been correcting her from the start. Now it is an akward situation.

I would get with her privately and explain that "When it is just me, a near miss is OK in trying to pronounce my name (especially if it is very unusual). However, I have told all my students how to pronounce my name, and I don't want it to reflect negatively on you that you do not pronounce my name correctly. I'm sorry I didn't point this out earlier, but it really wasn't that important to me then."

Answer 3

Just correct her when she says the wrong name.

- "Smith, do you have anything to add?"
- "It's Thompson" or "You mean Thompson"

I think that's the best way to deal with it, to just correct her when she gets it wrong.

Some people tend to confuse names. My grandmother and my uncle always first call me by my sister's name, even though they know very well what my name is. They just confuse the names. Sometimes they realize themselves that they said the wrong name and when they don't, I just say my name and they realize it and correct themselves.

Answer 4

When she calls you the wrong name just be like it's [your name here] and then continue talking to her like it's not big deal.
Ex:
Boss - Hey Suzie can you sign this paper?
You - It's Elizabeth, not Suzie, and sure; I'd love to sign that paper for you.

See? No big deal. Good luck!

Answer 5

LOL. March your kids to the office and have them say, "You need to show some F*
Your administrator needs to be fired. It's not that hard to learn everyone's name in the building.

Answer 6

Just go into her office alone and tell her. She'll probably be embarassed, and she might want to know why you didn't tell her earlier... just say that you didn't know how to approach it, but some wicked smart guy on the internet told you to just do it already.

Answer 7

Just like you asked this question, tell her.Is she doing it on purpose? Wear a name tag.Maybe she'll get the point.

Answer 8

Flat out tell her, but not in front of the students. Just say, hey, my name is.....

Answer 9

Politely tell her in private what your real name is.
She'll probably feel like an idiot, but it's not your fault.

Answer 10

cut your hair,put a name tag on your desk, take your boss out to lunch and calmly tell your boss your name is really whatever it is

Answer 11

Say, that is not my name. My name is so and so.

Just come out and say it, no reason to beat around the bush.