Name that Name!

I have a five-letter name. Nothing more. Just Five. I typed nothing more but didn't type nothing less - coz my friends drops the last letter and just calls me with four.

Hence, Reina becomes Rein. And since 5th grade, I got accustomed to that. If you're my friend, most likely you will call me with those four letters. If you are just an acquaintance you will call me with five. If you are my family, that's another story - they call me with only three letters which only 2 of them you can find among the five. Am I confusing you, my furry friends? Ha! Just simply put, my family calls me Yna. Which I haven't really heard for quite awhile unless I call my pops and he'd pass the phone to ma - then I hear them say the name they call me.

So when I got to high school, my name evolved. Yes! those five letters!!!...my closest friends started calling me with a five letter but substituting the "a" with an "s" - so instead of just Rein, they started calling me REINS...nevertheless, I'd still sign cards without the s. Then a teacher started calling me differently - with a four letter word but dropping the "e" - so REINA became "RINA". And that started confusing me at first...until I realized he's a bit phonetically-challenged. He was nice anyway, so I stopped squinting each time he calls me.

Then college came, most friends either called me with an "s" or without. I started working, most colleagues called me with the five letters. As soon as we got close, they drop the "a". Which was probably a sign they have accepted me OR they felt I have accepted them. Ha!

And so I did quite a bit of jobs here and there. Until there was one company where my boss - who happens to be the president of the company, called me with the four letter name - without the e - RINA. I started squinting again (she wasn't challenged and she wasn't nice either),wondering when will this ever stop? It tormented me. Ending of the story? I ended the job. And vowed that anyone who doesn't call my name properly - cannot be trusted. So job hunting I went, with that in mind. Prospective employers should be able to say my full name otherwise I can't accept the job.

Years passed...Companies passed my little test, but being a restless spirit - didn't last for very long as well.

And now I am here. Today. And with all the different cultures and nationalities surrounding me - I have to be a bit lenient with how people call my name. Rina, Reiny, Reena, Rena...oh ya, at one point somebody even called me Renata! Ha! I had to double squint! Some had been corrected while others, no matter how you tell them over and over, it just won't sink in. So I just go away.

I can make all the excuses covering up people's fault in trying to pronounce my name correctly but for some reason, when it comes to writing it, I can't. Again, it gives me a bad rub when they type in my name wrong and yet types in my family name right. Makes you wonder if you have a blood relative out there you don't know about.