There is an unwritten expectation that HR Professionals will be good at remembering names. This is something I’ve always tried to excel at, but sometimes I fail, miserably.

I was at a function with other HR Professionals last week.  I got into a lengthy discussion with someone who I have known for years, and with which I have spoken many times.

As it often does, our conversation eventually turned to the EO List.

She asked me, “Is there an inside joke behind the weekly “Good Morning, Marilyn!” salutation at the beginning of every distribution?”

“Good Morning, Marilyn?”, I asked.  “What are you talking about? Your name is Michelle, isn’t it?”

“Well every Friday, I am greeted with an e-mail that says, “Good Morning, Marilyn!”.  I thought it was some sort of “Dear Abby” greeting.”

I burst out laughing.  I do like humour, but I’m not clever enough to come up with a gesture this stupid on my own.

Apparently, and maybe this has impacted you, there is at least one person whose name on the mailing list is different from their actual name.

In the case of Michelle, I have no explanation.  A long time ago, I used to manually import every single request.  Maybe I lost track of which address I was saving to which name.

If this is you, my apologies.  Please click Join button above and fix your name for the distribution.

I guess sometimes our minds can go off task.