At my workplace we’re required to wear name badges.
And somehow, this was always enough information for the wrong people… I suppose even more so because I live in a small town.
So, I just stopped wearing a name badge altogether.
There were a lot of people who were respectful when using my name, but the bad actors weren’t worth it.
The customers didn’t seem to notice the absence of a name badge either (they’d just stop using my name since it wasn’t there for them to reference). This was the ideal solution for me.
But then corporate started cracking down on name badges and wanted to know why I wasn’t wearing mine and why I had such a strong aversion to wearing one (so I told them the truth). Which was frankly embarrassing for me because I didn’t want to make a big deal out of stalker incidents. It just feels like I’m humble bragging whenever I’m required to mention it. But they understood and came up with a compromise — how about we make you a fake name.
It’s been working well. But understandably, a lot of co-workers keep asking me why I’m wearing a fake name. And I don’t really want to have to bring it up all the time.
Would it be okay in these situations to just tell people it’s an inside joke?… I’ve tried telling people the truth and I just feel so ridiculous telling people.
4 comments
first- u should not feel like u are bragging for sharing your own personal trauma or harassment history and anyone who takes it like that is a horrible person, second- amy from super store wears fake names on her name tag all the time, you could refer to that when answering questions from coworkers.
you have every right to protect your privacy and u have every right to tell your coworkers whatever ud like to explain your name tag
that’s a question for a therapist. this is not a typical situation
It’s not wrong, and you don’t need to divulge, you can just say that it’s for security and has been cleared by management.
It’s totally reasonable. There’s no need to feel ashamed.