"Mommy, Dearest"

Funniest credit card company call, EVER! I never usually pick up the phone, but I just happened to this morning on my way to work.

[I pick up the phone] Hello? Hello?

[it always takes a few seconds for their shock of hearing a human voice to wear off before they answer.]

Operator: Hello, is this Ms. Michelle Bautista. Am I pronouncing it properly?

Me: Why yes, and yes.

Operator: Oh Good. You see I knew how to pronounce your name properly because I watched, "Mommy, dearest" with Katherine Hepburn and she addressed this man as Mr. Bautista and she pronounced it properly so I knew that I was pronouncing your name properly.

Me: ???

Operator: This is your [credit card company] calling. Do you have plenty of time or are out of time?]

Me: um, well, I guess I'm out of time. I've got to get to work.

Operator: Very well. If you'd like to talk to us for any reason, our phone number is 1-877-xxx-xxxx. You have a wonderful weekend.

Me: You, too! Goodbye.

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whew! Now, I tried looking up the movie, "Mommy, dearest" with Katherine Hepburn, but I really think he meant Joan Crawford, but I'm not exactly sure which movie has the line "mommy, dearest." You moviephiles help out a gal, will ya?

You know, because I just have to know if Katherine Hepburn or Joan Crawford addressed a character in one of their movies with my last name! Besides, a good excuse to catch up on a Katherine Hepburn and/or Joan Crawford movie.

See, and if I didn't have to leave right away, I might have stayed and chatted with him. Usually if they pick up and butcher my name (Batiste, Baptist, etc) I say, "oh no, there's no one by that name here." And it's true there are no Batistes in the Bautista household.

I remember going to a conference on the east coast and found that alot of east coast Fil-Ams tended to pronounce their names in the "American" way instead of the Filipino accented way to make it easier for other people. There was a woman I met, Phil-Fil who found it quite detestable to repronounce your last name and before leaving messages on the Fil-Am's answering machines proceeded to pronounce their last names in the Filipino way like twenty times, before leaving a message. Because thank you, it's Aglipay [ah-glee-pai] and not [ag-lee-pay].

from Star Trek, the Next Generation:

Dr. [the one that replaced Dr. Crusher for a season or so]: Ok data (da-tuh), you can go now.

Data: It's Data [day-tah], not data.

Dr.: data, Data, what's the difference?

Data: One is my name, the other isn't.