A distraught employee caused a divide on Reddit recently when she asked for advice in dealing with a coworker. The flap all stems from a language barrier that could cause big trouble for the poster in the long run. Here is her full story.
She’s a Native French Speaker
OP is a native French speaker but now works in an English-speaking country. One of her coworkers has a French word as a first name but is a native of the English-speaking country.
Upon first learning the coworker’s name, OP pronounced it as the French word. But the coworker immediately jumped all over OP for mispronouncing her name.
Evidently, OP’s coworker does not pronounce her name like the common French word.
Since then, OP has tried really hard to pronounce the name as the coworker desires, but admits to slipping up now and then. She says it’s tough to break speech patterns that carry over from your native tongue to a new language.
And Can’t Get to Grips With the Pronunciation of Her Colleague’s Name
But OP’s coworker continues to accuse her of deliberately mispronouncing her name. OP has considered trying to come up with a nickname for the irate coworker but fears that would just make the situation worse.
Now OP is always walking on eggshells at work, afraid to set off the coworker again. Try as she might, though, she still slips up about once a week.
And every time the name comes out wrong, the coworker lashes out at OP about how easy her name is and that she can’t understand the continued flubs. OP says their coworkers just roll their eyes and ignore the drama.
OP says their workplace is already a very stressful environment. Their performance is measured on impossible standards, and they have to cut corners to make their numbers.
She Sometimes Slips up and Pronounces It the French Way
Then, if something goes wrong, OP says their management reviews the processes the workers followed and ding them for any missed steps.
They also don’t get lunch breaks, so OP doesn’t have any opportunity to try and form a bond with her coworker other than in the heat of getting the job done.
And there are rules in place that OP says keeps her and her coworkers from trying to unionize to improve the situation.
OP has considered leaving her job, but she needs the money and isn’t sure she could find another gig very easily. Especially not one that pays as well.
She’s Not Deliberately Mispronouncing Her Name
And OP is not eligible for any kind of welfare benefits, so she feels completely stuck.
So OP is motivated to try and find a way to get along with her coworker, which is why she came to Reddit.
For starters, OP wanted to know if it seemed like she was deliberately mispronouncing her coworkers name. And did it really seem like such a big deal if she slipped up from time to time?
More importantly, though, OP wanted help figuring out how to get the name right consistently.
Her Colleague Is Condescending
Redditors seem torn on the situation overall.
Some point out that OP seems condescending since she said in her post that she pronounces the coworker’s name the “correct” way.
Commenters point out that the correct way to pronounce anyone’s name is however that person wants it to be pronounced.
Others say that OP has tried to correct her pronunciation and that it seems like she has, for the most part. They think the coworker is overreacting and looking for drama.
What Do You Think?
Several Redditors suggested that OP could use word association to get the name right. OP reported that she had thought of a word that describes her coworker and rhymes with her preferred pronunciation.
So, what do you think of this story?
Is OP off base for not getting her coworker’s name right every time?
Or is the other woman getting way too worked up about something pretty minor?
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The post Her She Feels Ousted Because Her Colleague Gets Antsy Over the Mispronunciation of Her Name first appeared on The Net Worth Of.
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Source: Reddit