PET NICKNAMES
I was reading Curtis' 9/12 post, PONY BOY CURTIS, the other day and got a good chuckle. It brought back some old memories ~ memories about nicknames. I am not talking about merely a shortening of your name such as Anthony to Tony or Joseph to Joe. I mean 'pet' nickname, ~ nicknames that people, friends have given you due to traits, particular events, or as a joke. I can think of only two that have been bestowed on me in the course of my life time. Well, maybe four, but the additional two are, hmmm, 'personal.' Yah right!
The first was a high school nickname from a few of my old schoolday chums. It was merely a play off my last name so don't go on a tangent with your dirty imaginations here. Come to think of it, maybe it does say something about me. Only one other person, Large Tony, as of late has been given the OK to use this nickname. Should I dare disclose this....BALLS. There I said it.
The only other nickname came to be during my time as a bodily injury claims adjuster (personal injuries - auto accidents/homeowners) in San Francisco. You would have to have known me back then. See I was this very shy, quiet 27 year old man. I really think my work in claims slowly changed my personality due to the type of interactions I had with customers, peers, business entities, etc. As a bodily injury adjuster, I had to deal with exceptionally pushy claimants and attorneys, all demanding more money than what a claim was worth. That shy, quiet man got pushed around for a spell and went through his claim authority fairly quickly. I even had my supervisors concerned that I might not be able to cut the position. But something finally sparked in me.
I can remember this one aggressive demanding paralegal, Nadine Z., that I had to deal with on a frequent basis. I had had enough of her blatant rudeness to me one day. I did something I had never done before...I lashed back. I told her, "Now you listen to me. Your client's claim is soft tissue and not worth a damn penny more than $***.00. There was a damn ding in the bumper. Take the offer to your client and if she doesn't like it then I guess we'll see you in court." Does this sound a bit out of character for me? Well it was, and in some respects still is. Anyhow, let's just say I was loud enough that many of my peer adjusters seated around me overheard most of the conversation, including my lead supervisor. After I got off the phone, feeling a bit guilty, I went over to my supervisor's desk to tell him about my conversation and that he should possibly expect a call from Nadine Z. He merely looked at me, said "Don't worry about it. You know... you were quite the ANIMAL," and gave me a big smirk. From that day forward through the time I was in that position, I was ANIMAL any time I got aggressive with a claimant or an attorney. When I was promoted to Main Office Claims, the BI Department threw me a party and one of the parting gifts was a small trophy. On the engaving they had included ANIMAL in the quote.
Those were the days. Now that I have totally embarrassed myself I'd like to know...have you ever had a 'pet' nickname? Spill the beans! What was the story behind it?
The first was a high school nickname from a few of my old schoolday chums. It was merely a play off my last name so don't go on a tangent with your dirty imaginations here. Come to think of it, maybe it does say something about me. Only one other person, Large Tony, as of late has been given the OK to use this nickname. Should I dare disclose this....BALLS. There I said it.
The only other nickname came to be during my time as a bodily injury claims adjuster (personal injuries - auto accidents/homeowners) in San Francisco. You would have to have known me back then. See I was this very shy, quiet 27 year old man. I really think my work in claims slowly changed my personality due to the type of interactions I had with customers, peers, business entities, etc. As a bodily injury adjuster, I had to deal with exceptionally pushy claimants and attorneys, all demanding more money than what a claim was worth. That shy, quiet man got pushed around for a spell and went through his claim authority fairly quickly. I even had my supervisors concerned that I might not be able to cut the position. But something finally sparked in me.
I can remember this one aggressive demanding paralegal, Nadine Z., that I had to deal with on a frequent basis. I had had enough of her blatant rudeness to me one day. I did something I had never done before...I lashed back. I told her, "Now you listen to me. Your client's claim is soft tissue and not worth a damn penny more than $***.00. There was a damn ding in the bumper. Take the offer to your client and if she doesn't like it then I guess we'll see you in court." Does this sound a bit out of character for me? Well it was, and in some respects still is. Anyhow, let's just say I was loud enough that many of my peer adjusters seated around me overheard most of the conversation, including my lead supervisor. After I got off the phone, feeling a bit guilty, I went over to my supervisor's desk to tell him about my conversation and that he should possibly expect a call from Nadine Z. He merely looked at me, said "Don't worry about it. You know... you were quite the ANIMAL," and gave me a big smirk. From that day forward through the time I was in that position, I was ANIMAL any time I got aggressive with a claimant or an attorney. When I was promoted to Main Office Claims, the BI Department threw me a party and one of the parting gifts was a small trophy. On the engaving they had included ANIMAL in the quote.
Those were the days. Now that I have totally embarrassed myself I'd like to know...have you ever had a 'pet' nickname? Spill the beans! What was the story behind it?
posted by Tony @ 9/15/2006 12:00:00 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
they called me tater head when I was little cause my head was so big for my body, thank goodness the body started growing when I was in the 6th grade.
Well, you already know mine. "Balls" eh? Funny thing about pet names. You can't ever keep someone from using them.;-)
Mine used to be Rocky, a play on my last name.
Then the "Rocky" movies came out and that was so 'not me' the nickname dried up.
My family's nickname for me I shan't disclose for love or money.
I have never had a nickname that my friends have given me - parts of me have had nicknames but we will not go into that... I have been called "Brettly" or "Brettster" but never a real nickname.
Like ur-spo, there is not enough money in the world to get you to tell you what my parents still call me at times...
In college I was called Loogie-Man. It's a play off my last name and the boogie man (or however it's spelled). In childhood I was called 'Barney' after Barney Rubble of the flintstones. I was so compact with no neck until I hit teen years when I expanded in every direction! As an adult they call me J.J. which are some of my initials and they call me 'smiley' because I'm a dentist and always smile. It was funny that you called me that!
At work everyone called me Scooter for years...I guess based on my name. As a kid, my parents always called me (dare i even say it)...poopee...beause I was always gassy and could clear a stadium with my gas. So there you have it.
Ever heard of the wrestler "Jake the Snake"? That's where my nickname Jake came from. Don't ask me how or why but my brother started calling me that years ago and it just picked up. He calls me Jacob more these days. Sometimes I think he has totally forgotten my real name. My cousin even named her son Jake after me, how cool is that?
I have way too many. I used to posts on all of them and it only included the one's from work! The way I see it most people develop their own name for me, its a way I can tell whose close to me. Cause when you call me anything by given name and I respond there's a connection on some level.
When was a young child, an uncle nicknamed me "Meathead", I'm sure he got it from "All in the Family".
Although he died in a tragic accident a couple of years ago, his wife, my aunt, still calls me Meathead.
Other than that, I have no nicknames.
In high school, my nickname was "Blackie" given to me by some guys on my basketball team.
It had to do with certain myths and was indirectly related to my last name.
I was called ribs when I was really young because I was so thin my ribs were always visible, I completely forgot about that until I read this post.
Others were much nastier and not so memorable, the latest one was maybe about 8 years ago.
Bear... I never said my friends were original, ok!
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