PERSONALIZED

I just exchanged about five or six e-mails with a business contact. Normally, by e-mail two or three, I'm signing them as LJ, especially if the e-mails are informal (which these were).

But this person kept addressing me as Lindsey, so I kept signing them as Lindsay. I almost went with LindsAy just to get the point across.

This is the business world, okay? Aren't we supposed to be winning friends and influencing highly effective people in 90 seconds or something? Step One: Spell my name right. I know it's not the only name in the world. I know we're all busy. But just because your name has three letters in it doesn't mean that you don't need to at least try to spell everyone else's the right way. It's lazy. That is one of the quickest ways to get under my skin and/or off on the wrong foot, business world or otherwise.

Another business associate used to completely butcher my name. I can understand Lindsey; it's just one letter. But when you start dropping Z's and Y's up in there (as in Lynzi, Linsi, Linzi or my personal favorite - Lensay) I'm going to want to correct you.

I mean, you see who the e-mail is from before you even see the e-mail itself. There it is plain as day. Lindsay. Am I OCD for double-checking the spelling of someone's name if there is even a question about it in my mind? It's someone's NAME, for crying out loud. It doesn't get more personal than that. I just think it's an easy way of showing that you care or value a person if you take the time to spell it right (especially if it's easy to misspell). Maybe that's just me.

Oddly enough, I can make my peace with calling people by the wrong name - after all, there's a lot of people out there and sometimes your mind goes blank. But more than twice and I'm going to judge you. For example:
Forgivable Up To Two Times: People confuse one of my coworkers and me all the time. We both have short brown hair, are insanely good-looking, started around the same time, and our names are very similar. We're used to it, and sometimes to be funny we'll call each other by the wrong name on purpose (when we're in a group I'll call her Lindsay just to throw everyone off). But we have conferred and know who around here is too lazy to think/care and who just makes accidental slips.
Unforgiveable No Matter When or Where: Last week someone looked right at me and called me another name that doesn't even sound like mine. Icing on the Cake: I was wearing a name tag. LAZY!

I don't think I'm asking for the moon here, do you? I guess we can debate this two-fold: there's spelling someone's name incorrectly, then there's calling him/her the wrong name altogether. Offensive? Not so much? Thoughts?

P.S.: Lensay/Lynzi/Lindsey ran five miles last night. This is worth noting because it's the longest she's ever run by herself.