Speaking of names...

I was recently reading a post on Gwen's blog which referenced having the same name as someone else on campus. Growing up with Kate Avenarius as my name, I cannot relate. My dad, Dan Avenarius, however, gets phone calls for the other Dan Avenarius in Dubuque all the time. The funny part is, I think the other Dan might get arrested a lot. I wonder if my dad has ever arrested him. That would be cool.

Then I read a comment from Megs that prompted me to remember a story I thought deserved sharing.

Since arriving at the Milwaukee office, I have been receiving phone calls for someone who handles unagreed cases. I'm not exactly sure what they're asking for, other than that I am not the person they are looking for. Every time they ask me to transfer them to someone who has any idea what's going on and then seem quite upset when I tell them I'm new and I don't even know who to transfer them to.

So yesterday I decided to take a proactive approach to solving the problem. The woman on the phone (who's voice became more irritated as time went on), trying to help me out, asked if "Barb" is in my office. I know the name of about 3 people here, and "Barb" is not one of them, so I was not surprisingly no help.

So after we got off the phone, off I went to find "Barb". I first stopped at my secretary's desk. I waited my turn patiently while she finished a conversation and then politely asked if she knew someone named "Barb".

Both the secretary and other guy's faces turned bright red. At this point, I realized I had done something, but no idea what.

Turns out, an older woman had retired from our office in March. She died the day before yesterday. And guess what. Her name is "Barb".

So now at least I can attest to whether I know if "Barb" works in this office. She does not.