call me Mandy

I probably haven't mentioned this before, but another one of those weird things that follow me around has happened again.  

The weird thing that happens to me is when people get my name completely wrong. Not just a little bit wrong, like a mis-spelling or a mis-pronounciation. Which I get a lot. Having a name like Tamasin, this is expected, par for the course of having an unusual name.

An event to be ignored, glossed over, added to the list of 'variations on a theme'....double M, the S before the M, only one A...yes, there are many ways to write my name apparently.  But, no, this is more than that.  

This weird little glitch in my world is when people don't just get my name wrong, they call me something other than my name. And they always call me the same thing.....Mandy. 

Isn't it weird?  People I have never met 'Mandy....blah blah blah', sometimes people I know well still have a slip of the tongue 'Mand....' they say, instead of Tammy.  Oh well, I ignore it, it is one of those things. I brush it off.  To think no more about it. 

But then, since doing this blog and making a meal out of even the smallest events that happen to me, paying more attention to the interactions that come my way, suddenly this feels strange.

There I was, minding my own business, knitting a scarf in front of the telly.  The landline rang.  Only two people I want to speak to ever ring the landline, everyone else uses text or mobile. One of them is my Mum and the other is my neighbour from over the road who is also now a work colleague. I have no interest in the sales calls or people trying to find the last people who lived here (who haven't been here since 2008).  So, when the phone rings and I am all settled on the sofa, I am loathe to get up to answer the landline, but I have to, just in case it is my Mum.

Who is it?  well, it is an old woman with a Scottish accent on the phone.  Who does she want?  Amanda. 

me: 'sorry there is no Amanda here'
her: 'has Mandy gone out?'
me: 'no, Mandy doesn't live here'
her: 'has she moved?'
me: 'no, I think you may have the wrong number'
her:...recalls the number she is meant to have rung, yes the final digit is one number away.

Okay then.  No Mandy. Not on this number.

But isn't that strange?  Even sitting indoors, minding my own business I am brought the name Mandy to have a ponder about.

Lots of love and light to everyone who needs it.

Tamasin x