The Scotterhoofenstiens

I hate being called by the wrong name, I hate it! Not so much when I am called John (my first named) or even My-chole as many people do. No, my anger comes from the fact that a tool of my daily work life; Outlook, has an option of how you want to file someone's name. Thus sometimes I am in peoples address book as "J. Michol Scott" and other times as "Scott, J. Michol". It is when the latter occurs that problems arise. You see many people whom I am assuming are just lazy, will continue a long email chain with 10+ replies all calling me Scott. I will call them by their obvious first name every time and sometimes even enquire if a chap named David prefers Dave or David just to get them to think. The last successful attempt to get someone to realize the error of their ways was to have them check my signature that is at the bottom of my email which states my name and contact information.

Thus I have determined my only solution is to simply change my last name to something that could not be mistaken as a first name... thus from here on out me and my posterity will be known to all mankind as the Scotterhoofenstiens. It has a nice germanic ring to it! I can finally get into Oktoberfest with a name like that! But alas, I should realize that if they think my last name is "J. Michol" what chance do I have of preventing such problems in the future?

Please, my name is Michol, my wife is Jamie and my son is Will. No one in this family should be called Scott unless they are on the basketball court.