It's Cathy with a -- eh, nevermind.

This post is not about the little Starbucks habit I seem to have developed over the past couple of months. Or the fact that "grande nonfat decaf two pump pumpkin spice latte" rolls off my tongue with an ease that troubles me. It's about the fact that it drives my kids crazy that I don't specify the spelling of my name when I order my drink, or correct them when it comes back spelled the wrong way. I find that the world spells my name correctly 50% of the time (although Starbucks only gets it right about 20% of the time). Sometimes the spelling matters (e.g., tax forms, medical records) and sometimes it just doesn't (e.g., coffee drinks). I've always wondered why people bother going through the extra step of asking me if it's a C or a K in situations where it just doesn't matter, like placing a take out pizza order:

- Hi, I'd like to order a large half pepperoni, half sausage for takeout.
- Large half pepp, half sausage. Give us about 30 minutes. And what's the name on this order?
- Cathy.
- Cathy with a K or a C?
- Cathy with a C.

When I get there, they never ask me to spell my name before handing me my pizza to prove that it's really me. You'd think if they were worried about one Cathy with a C and one Kathy with a K picking up large half pepperoni/half sausage pizzas at the same time, they'd be equally worried about two Cathys with a C picking up the same order at the same time, so they'd ask for my last name as well. But they never do. They only ask for the spelling of my first name. I don't know why they ask. Maybe it's just an impulse or a habit. Maybe when they were kids they routinely witnessed their mother's name spelled incorrectly on her to-go coffee cups, and they shook their fists at the heavens and said "when I have the power to do something about it, mark my words, I will spell people's names the right way!" In any event, maybe I should start carrying a Sharpie around to fix the spelling when my kids are around. Or better yet, quit Starbucks.