Odd O'blography

What's in a Name?

My first 'real' job out of college was for a small company that sold digital controls for machine tools. They had just introduced the first machine tool controller based on a microprocessor (the same 6502 chip that was used in the Apple I personal computer). Our specialty was converting manually operated milling machines that required skilled machinists into automated tools that anyone could program to cut complex shapes in metal (even me). The controller and motor drive retrofit package was quite successful, undercutting the competition by thousands of dollars.

My title was Applications Engineer, and the job consisted of helping customers to adapt our products to their specific machine tools. Part of the job was to design the electrical and mechanical interfaces, part of it was teaching programming, and part of it was troubleshooting. Business was so good that I soon got a technician named Sam to work with me.

Sam was a very laid-back guy who rarely spoke up or pushed his own opinions. He was content to do as he was told and do it well. Sam was a few years older but didn't seem to mind having a younger boss. Sam may not have had a lot of ambition, but he was reliable and worked hard. We got along well, and I was happy to have someone to share the workload. When Sam's 60-day evaluation paperwork arrived, I was surprised to see that his first name was actually Sanford.

"Sanford, huh? I didn't catch that when we were introduced. I guess everyone calls you Sam for short?"

"Nope, just you."

"You mean I've been calling you by the wrong name for two months!? Why didn't you say something?"

"Well, you're a good guy and I don't mind Sam. I've been called worse."