The curse of a famous name
Oct. 6th, 2004 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bktheirregularJust fielded a call at Save The World Inc.
Caller: "Can I speak to [Volunteer Coordinator]?"
Me: "Can you hold? She's on the - oops, I'm sorry, it looked like she was on the phone. Who should I say is calling?"
Caller: "Mister Rogers."
Me: [thinking: uh, oh] "Uh, okay. Can I have a first name?"
Caller: "Buck."
Me: "Please hold." [punching hold, pulling odd face] "[Boss]! I've got a guy calling for you by the name of Buck Rogers?"
Boss: "Oh, great! [picks up phone] Hi! Yeah, that was Bruce. He thought you were a crank call..."
Could've been worse, though.
My father has a sometimes colleague who was born with the name Peter Sellers (same as the late comedian, and no, not the same person). Dr. Sellers liked to tell a story of a scientific conference he once went to.
Background: Everyone at one of those conferences wears a name tag, since they'll often recognize each other's names from publications, but not faces. Dr. Sellers had a tendency not to wear his name tag at such conferences, for the obvious reasons.
Anyway, one time, he got into an elevator with a bunch of people. Most had name tags; one other person did not.
The other name-tag-less person sidled up to Dr. Sellers and asked: "So what's your name?"
Dr. Sellers responded as though expecting the usual jokes: "Peter Sellers."
The other man gave a sympathetic wince, offered his hand, and introduced himself: "James Bond."
Caller: "Can I speak to [Volunteer Coordinator]?"
Me: "Can you hold? She's on the - oops, I'm sorry, it looked like she was on the phone. Who should I say is calling?"
Caller: "Mister Rogers."
Me: [thinking: uh, oh] "Uh, okay. Can I have a first name?"
Caller: "Buck."
Me: "Please hold." [punching hold, pulling odd face] "[Boss]! I've got a guy calling for you by the name of Buck Rogers?"
Boss: "Oh, great! [picks up phone] Hi! Yeah, that was Bruce. He thought you were a crank call..."
Could've been worse, though.
My father has a sometimes colleague who was born with the name Peter Sellers (same as the late comedian, and no, not the same person). Dr. Sellers liked to tell a story of a scientific conference he once went to.
Background: Everyone at one of those conferences wears a name tag, since they'll often recognize each other's names from publications, but not faces. Dr. Sellers had a tendency not to wear his name tag at such conferences, for the obvious reasons.
Anyway, one time, he got into an elevator with a bunch of people. Most had name tags; one other person did not.
The other name-tag-less person sidled up to Dr. Sellers and asked: "So what's your name?"
Dr. Sellers responded as though expecting the usual jokes: "Peter Sellers."
The other man gave a sympathetic wince, offered his hand, and introduced himself: "James Bond."