Plop, fizz

Continuing my reign as the World's Most Easily Amused Person...did you know that Alka Seltzer tablets work exactly as the commercials show that they do? I didn't know that, but they do. And they make tablets that double for cough suppression AND mucus congestion. Gross, I know, but this is exactly what I need at the moment... BUT! I can handle a little cough and mucus, because it was caused by the weather change. And for once, by "weather change", I mean- it's getting warmer outside!! I didn't even wear my winter coat to work today. So take THAT, March! (now the joke will be on me next week when it snows again or something equally as mood-crushing).

Anyhoo. I work at the Corporate headquarters for a large corporation that has lots of facilities throughout the world. This week, one HR person from each (well, most) of our U.S. and Canadian faciilities visited the Corporate office for an HR conference. I actually deal with these people quite a bit in my job, because I deal with background checks and drug screens and all of those other fun pre-employment whats-its, but all of our dealings are usually done via e-mail. So it was really interesting and kind of fun to finally meet a lot of these people face to face.

That is, until one particular woman said, "Oh, for some reason I thought you were a boy." I laughed and said, "Oh, yeah, I get that sometimes, but no. I'm a girl!" I smile. She doesn't. She says, "I don't know why I thought that?" then stares at me, as if waiting for me to offer her an explanation as to why she would assume I was male. I said, "Well, yeah, Erin is a boy and a girl's name, but I spell it different, so..." She doesn't respond and keeps staring at me, as if this explanation isn't good enough. So I say, "Well, we did used to have a boy named Aaron who worked with us, so maybe that's why." To which my boss decided to (helpfully) add, "No, I don't think she ever dealt with him." The lady continues her stare. I start wondering how I'm supposed to explain her own thought process to her. The only thing I can think of to say is, "Uh, I don't know, then, I guess it's just that it's a boy and a girl's name..." and I kind of trailed off. Then there was an awkward silence. I decided the only course of action after that was, "Well, nice to meet you!" and retreat quickly. I got back up to my office and decided to open my mail. And the first one I opened just so happened to be addressed to, "Mr. Erin".

Seriously.

It's not that hard. "Erin" equals girl. "Aaron" equals boy. And if all else fails, and you aren't sure, leave the "Mr." or "Ms." completely out of it and just go with the first name.

This has been a public service announcement on behalf of Erins and Aarons everywhere.

Have a great weekend, guys. :)