#118 Communication of Information (over the phone)

Email addresses can be tricky, especially when company names or people's names are very long or when it's a homonym. However, when the domain name is easy and the prefix or "local" part is tricky, sometimes it becomes necessary to either sound it out or use examples (like the phonetic alphabet) when trying to communicate over the phone.

I work with a guy whose last name contains only 5 letters. At this business, our email addresses work in a few different methods: [first initial][last name]@[company].com, or more preferably [first initial][4-digits]@[company].com, where the 4 digits are either the last 4 of their Social Security Number or the 4-digit month/day they were hired (like April 25 would be 0425). Therefore, it would be easier for him to use his digits rather than try to spell out his last name since his name is a little unusual.

But does he think of using the 4 digits? No, of course not. He's so proud of his last name and so adamant about using it that he continuously spells his name out, calling out each letter (with an example), at least ten times per day. This occurs even more if he has to leave people voicemails! Let's assume his name is Brian Slays (it's not). Slays is not a difficult last name to spell, but over the phone it could be confused or misspelled – what I'm getting at is that it's not as obvious as Jones or Smith. So he will say, "...my email address is B as in Brian, S as in Sam, L as in Larry, A as in Apple, Y as in Yellow, S as in Sam, at [company].com".

Instead, he could just say, "B as in Brian, S as in Sam, 0 – 4 – 2 – 5 at [company].com". See? See how much more easy that was?! Less to say, and more direct. Numbers are WAY easier than letters over the phone. If it's available, why not use it??

I also understand that, for security purposes, people may be hesitant to use their 4-digits instead of their last name if it were the last numbers of their Social Security Number. By the way – whomever thought of that should have seriously reconsidered it before implementing that procedure. How about the last 4 of their employee number or something else instead?! Why the SSN? That's such an important group of numbers to be sharing with the world in light of all of the identity theft these days.

At any rate, people with longer names in the company I work for should definitely consider using their 4-digits, be it their SSN or hire date, instead of their full name. Or, you can do what I do, and just ask for their email address up front so you can email them your information instead of trying to communicate it over the phone. Let's not have to go the way of the fax machine, either.