Thursday, February 24, 2011

When is it okay to correct?

I always have trouble when it comes to this subject.  I am not much of a "corrector".  If someone calls me by the wrong name, I normally don't say anything and just let the moment breeze by.  Is it worse to correct someone in this situation knowing that you will embarrass them, or just to do nothing at all?  I always feel like there is such an awkwardness in the air during these times.

This has happened to me twice in the past few weeks.  First, one of my good friends mom's called my husband Jake (otherwise known as Jack) and I didn't say anything to correct her.  Now will she forever think his name is Jake?  Should I have spoken up?  Would it have made her feel bad?

Then today.... the most hilarious / awkward thing imaginable happened to me.  I was at Chili's meeting an old co-worker, Jaime,  for lunch and we are mid conversation - you know, just catching up.  This girl who was a waitress there yelled from like 20ft away "RENEE!!!!!"  My friend Jaime and I obviously stopped and turned to see what all of the commotion was about.  (And for any of you who don't know this, my middle name is Renee, which made it even more strange.)  As we turn around this girl starts quickly coming my way saying "OH MY GOSH HOW ARE YOU?  WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" (hugs me....) and I said "Oh, I am good, just having lunch with a friend" and she said "OH WELL YOU ARE JUST SO CUTE!  LET ME KNOW IF YOU GIRLS NEED ANYTHING!!!!!" She was so loud.  Side Note:  I don't like when anyone my age or younger than me calls me "Cute" or "Darling".  I think it is condescending......   She proceeds to walk off and Jaime is DYING laughing.  She said "who in the heck was that?"  I HAD NO IDEA!!!!  I told her I had never seen the girl before in my life!  Why did I do this?  She was hugging me and asking me how I was and I just went with it.  Like no big deal, I always go by Renee......

Once we left, I think she realized she had me confused with someone else because she didn't even tell me bye when we walked past her.  Even more uncomfortable.  She probably thought I was just some big phony who poses as different people during my lunch breaks.

So what do I do?  Do I start correcting people or continue going with the flow?  When is it okay or not okay to correct?

1 comment:

  1. You have to correct the person. They may hate you, but they'll respect you.

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