Today I’m grateful for Polly … with a P.

11.18.2024

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Sometime last spring, in a group chat with some college friends, someone posed a question to the group about everyone’s coffee names. If we were to order coffee by a name other than our own, what would it be? What name would we want to answer to if a barista were to call it out loud?

While this was really just a fun hypothetical question, I (in typical ‘me’ fashion) overthought my answer. I actually pondered it for several days.

Here’s the thing. The name Karen has gotten a bit of a bad rap in recent years. And, although I really like my name, I have become a tiny bit self-conscious about declaring my name aloud in customer service type situations. Like it or not, there are certain assumptions that are often made when I (a middle-aged white woman) tell a cashier that my name is Karen. I was once greeted with a heavy sigh when I put my name in with a hostess at a restaurant. It’s very possible that I was overly sensitive and read into something that wasn’t really a thing, but I’ve thought of that heavy sigh many, many times over the past year or two. So, the idea of using an alter-ego or a pseudonym when ordering coffee was actually kind of intriguing to me.

After great thought, I chose Polly. It’s recognizable, yet not super common. There aren’t any universally negative connotations with the name. And most significantly, the choice is in honor of my late grandmother, Pauline, who we lovingly called Polly.

I’m not in coffee-name situations very often, but I have given this a go on a number of occasions over the past couple of months. Sadly, the first couple of times that I told a cashier that my name was Polly, it ended up as Holly on the receipt or when called aloud. No offense to the name Holly – it’s a lovely name – but it just isn’t the vibe I’m going for. I quickly learned the need to over-enunciate the P in Polly. Even then, when muffled through a drive-thru speaker, Polly is still often misunderstood.

Now, this brings us to today. I drove through Salad ‘n’ Go on my way to work. I ordered a barbecue chicken salad for lunch and a cold brew coffee to jump start my morning, and when the guy in the loud speaker asked for a name for the order, I didn’t hesitate. I over-articulated and practically shouted into the drive-thru microphone “P-olly”. His response: “Great, thanks Holly.” And then I did it. I corrected him. I said, “Actually, it’s Polly … with a P.” He replied, “Oh, sorry about that. Pull on ahead Polly.”

I know this whole thing is kind of ridiculous. Neither Holly or Polly are my name, and I truly have no desire to be called anything other than Karen. But I gotta say, the smile on my face when the Salad ‘n’ Go guy handed me my coffee and said “Have a great day, Polly” … it was huge. Sometimes you just gotta infuse your own little bit of silliness into life and having Polly as my official coffee name … well, it’s a pretty harmless way to add a little joy to my day.