Woman with unfortunate initials claims HR won’t use her name in emails
Imagine stewing over your child's name for nine months and finally deciding on the perfect moniker, only to find out a few decades down the line that the company your bundle of joy goes on to work for refuses to use it in emails.
Although we put a lot of emphasis on what we call our kids, a lot of people seem to overlook the fact their initials might not be complimentary when they're trying to forge their career path.
A woman named Samantha (@thesam_show) recently revealed how difficult it can be to carry an unfortunate name in the corporate world, especially when she's starting out at somewhere new. Take a look at this:
Advert
She shared a TikTok video announcing that she had bagged herself a new job and that she would be 'transitioning' into her new role within a couple of weeks.
The 28-year-old said: "Amid all of this excitement that I feel about this move and this new opportunity, I am filled with dread over one aspect of moving to a different job that I always face when I do this.
"Which is...having to have the tough conversation about how my name fits into a company email structure."
Most of us would be worrying about what to wear on our first day, if we've made the right choice career wise and how we will gel with our new colleagues - but Samantha is more preoccupied with how the HR department will deal with the issue with her initials.
She said she has had 'two professional jobs so far' and has dealt with the same predicament each time, adding that she often receives a concerned email from the firm flagging the problem with her before she starts her employment.
Samantha continued: "My name is Samantha Hart. And most companies use the email designation of first initial, last name, meaning my email would be ‘shart’."
For those blissfully unaware of what this term means, 'shart' is a combination of s**t and fart - so it isn't exactly the best foot to start an email exchange on, is it?
Samantha herself is all to aware that her initials are less than ideal and admitted she wouldn't mind HR designating her a 'different structure for her email address'.
She said: "I don’t want an email that says shart. Fix it. Give me something else.
"I did investigate the email structure at this new company and they do in fact use first initial, last name - which means that I am going to have another very uncomfortable conversation with somebody," she added.
"At this point, I feel like do I just reach out right off the bat and say look, you're not going to want my email to be this, you better give be something else. Or should I let them come to me? Should I let them initiate the conversation?
"The 'shart' conversation, if you will - which I have had three times in my life. It's such a blessing to be me!"
Social media users had a lot of sympathy for Samantha's email obstacle, although others couldn't help but chuckle.
One said: "This happened to my ex husband Paul Enis!" as another wrote: "Now parents need to think about corporate emails when naming their babies!"
A third added: "As S.Wallow, I feel your pain."
And a fourth added: "As someone in IT - please reach out. When we have to rename a bunch of logins after someone starts, it can cause headaches for everyone (including you)!"
Olivia Burke