Hey guys, I have a question for you non turk related but I know y'all will give valuable answers.
We had to hire a new employee. This Wednesday will be three weeks since she started. She is unable to call her boss (my mom) by the correct first name. She comes up with some *variation* of the name but rarely the actual correct first name. I have corrected her several times.
Is it wrong of me to think that by now she should be crystal clear on what her boss's name is? She uses it incorrectly when addressing my mom and also when talking to clients/tenants/vendors, etc.
I have other concerns with her that make me wonder if she is going to work out, but this one really bugs me. Am I overreacting?
Imho, I'm sure you aren't overreacting because, obviously, you are taking the time to think about what decision you'd make. I'm also sure that this is bothering you more than you'd think it should but, understandably. Names, be they our own or of the people we care about, are important to us personally, in a way other people don't feel because they have their own list of names that's important for them. That said, is it ground for firing?, probably not. Is it cause for concern?, absolutely. Because the name they are getting wrong is their boss, this can lead to inconsistency with customers and can also be seen as a disrespect issue, barring the possibility that the employee doesn't have a learning disability(dislexia springs to mind) or an anxiety issue that you are unaware of, or a name that is VERY difficult. My suggestion would be to treat it as if the employee were saying the name of a product wrong. This may help to remove the emotion from your decisions. They obviously couldn't sell a product if they can't pronounce it. Rather than correcting it on the fly as it happens, take the time to sit down with them and tell them that the boss' name is as important as any other part of the job, and it's correct pronunciation is a requisite. If, on the off chance that the name is unusual or hard to say for some people, maybe a more formal title for the boss, like Mrs. Smith, would be easier. That's what I would say if you'd like to make it work out. Of course, this is only an opinion and if the other red flags are worse than this, it may not be a great fit for either employee or employer.
