Throwaway account because I don't wanna taint my own.
Pretty much as the title says. I have a unique name. It's Spanish and it starts with a letter that most Americans never really see, ever. That's okay! I've been bullied over it and it is definitely a sore spot to me, but I can definitely tell when someone is actually trying to say my name and when they're actively making fun of me.
Anyways, one of my professors is trying to learn the names of everyone in his class. I think that's really admirable of him, because that class has around 100 kids in it on a full day. So far, he's doing pretty well, I think. He always tries someone's name before asking them a question and he's usually right!
Now, today he came up to me while I was working on something and asked me how to say my name. I was totally cool with this! I've probably phonetically sounded out my name for people more than I've actually said my name normally. I did my thing, but when he said my name back to me, the very first letter was completely wrong. Like mixing up a g and an i, wrong. Like totally wrong. I corrected him politely and he continued saying it wrong. I corrected him a few more times.
He then proceeded to tell me, "I'll just call you 'ke'." Yes, literally like the word key. No my name is no where near that short nor does it start with a k, nor does the first letter of my name even remotely sound like k. I then was getting a bit annoyed and I told him, "If you call me that, I won't respond, because that's not my name." He laughed and walked away without another word.
He called me that a couple more times and I honestly was so close to tears. I've had high schoolers do this exact same thing to me, but it especially hurts when it's your professor. The girl sitting next to me must have seen how upset I was, because she started talking to me and saying my name perfectly, after kindly asking how to pronounce it and then complimenting it.
I just feel pretty humiliated. My name is hard, I know that. I'm not asking for perfect pronunciation at all! I just would like an effort put in to not actively say the completely wrong name, especially after he asked me how to pronounce it and then brushed it off.
What do I do here? Am I being too soft? He's never really been mean before, so this is kind of a surprise to me. Do I let it slide and just try to survive for the next however many months are left in the semester? I just really want some advice, especially from other people with unique or uncommon names. I don't want to go full scorched earth or anything, because this is a difficult class and I want to keep my professor and mine relationship in tact, just in case I need help later.
TL;DR - My professors ignored me when I told him how to pronounce my name. Calls me a name that is nowhere near what my name is or sounds like. I feel humiliated.
Submitted September 05, 2019 at 01:39PM by Previous_Insurance https://ift.tt/2Uwnw9G
No comments:
Post a Comment