Only my mother calls me Jennifer!

I have a few friends who knit and blog and we've decided to embark on a blog project that has nothing to do with knitting. We're going to take turns coming up with a topic every Thursday and we each have to blog about it by the end of that day and post links to each other's blogs so that people can see our different perspectives on the same topic.
-Thanks to Merryland Girl for this explanation of the Thursday Blog Project.

This week's topic comes from...Tracey @ Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Just one word: Nicknames

Other contributors to the Thursday Blog Project are:
Merryland Girl
Desperate Madness

In my 31 years, I have had a lot of nicknames.

For reasons unknown, my mom used to call me Punifer Baa Baa - to this day, she doesn't know why. And because I am a Jennifer, I have had all the nicknames that go along with that Jenn, Jenny, etc.

In 8th grade, I decided that I wanted to be called Jenna. That only ever stuck with my best friend's family.

During my brief stint in cosmetology school, I was called Shep - my last name was Schaeppi (pronounced Sheppy) - but that was a nickname only for beauty school.

As an adult, I decided that I wanted to be called Jenn - making it very clear that I was Jenn with 2 N's.

My family still calls me Jenny, and that's OK because I am used to it.

One thing I cannot stand is being called Jennifer by anyone other than my mom. All my life, she is the only one that can call me Jennifer without me being totally annoyed. I don't know what it is, maybe its the tone of her voice, but she is the only one I can tolerate.

Since I work in a call center, and introduce myself all day long to callers, I have a list of what people "think" my name is:

My favorite is a woman from West Virginia who said "What did you say your name was? Shenza?" - really? Is Shenza such a common name? I get called John, Joan, Jane, Jan. Sometimes, I get called Debra (?)

I actually get people who argue with me, when I say "Thank you for calling, my name is Jenn, how can I assist you?" and they say "You're name is Jennifer?" and I say "No, my name is Jenn." and they go on and on "But Jennifer is your given name!?" Why does there have to be any discussion? You are calling about your payroll, what difference does it make? I see that you're name is Dan, you introduced yourself as Dan, I am just going to call you Danny, or Daniel because after all, it *IS* your given name!

Sigh