Nicknames

Nicknames Way back when I was at my old job, we had a new guy, a young man, start working for us. He was probably in his early twenties.

He had the same name as one of the guys who’d been with the company for centuries.

In the beginning, everyone called the new guy “New J” and the one who’d been there “Old J”.

Alas, the seasoned employee did not actually appreciate being called “Old J.”

Someone suggested the younger, newer employee be “Little J” which would make the older employee be “Big J.”

Do I need to say that he didn’t like that one either?

I finally suggested that we call the older, longer employed guy “Real J” which caught the younger guy off guard because, as he pointed out, that would make him “Fake J”. Well…duh.

Luckily, in the end it didn’t matter because the Js didn’t work in the same department and so were never really near each other and they didn’t really share close co-workers so if someone called for ‘J’ most people knew who was being summoned.

But yes, the whole ‘real’ and ‘fake’ monikers amused me greatly, as anyone who knows me would expect.