DarqByte

Well, in the spirit of the KISS song, “They call me Dr. Love!” Actually, I have been called Dr. Love before. And since this post is all about what people call me, I’ll give you that story too.

So over time it’s occurred to me what people call me on a daily basis. The only reason I’ve noticed is because some of my family members notice when I get called Rob and they can’t believe I’d be willing to be called that. Hell, some of them still call me by my kid name that I continually ask them not to use and to call me Robert (or Rob) instead. And a couple still call me by my really kid name, which is pretty much sacrilege these days as far as I’m concerned!

My cousin is on board in calling me Robert, actually. Thank God. And my Dad will occasionally remember to call me Robert. If you’re one of my childhood friends or family and are still calling me by either of my kid names… Robert works just as well. Trust me. I prefer it greatly.

All of this whole “what do I want to be called” stuff has been interesting to ponder. When I drove down to Arizona for Christmas Eve this last year, I learned that my grandma on my Dad’s side had always wanted my sister and me to call her Gran, not Grandma as we always do. I was completely unaware of this, so I’m making a conscious effort to call her Gran now.

See that’s the thing for me. I want to be called Robert (or Rob). Which is why I don’t understand the unwillingness of some people to call me that. I understand that a lot of my family has called me by my kid names for my entire life and that it’s a big change for them and they can only think of me as those names. I get that. But really, my wish is to be called Robert… Really. Haha. I’m trying to change what I call my Gran after 26 years of calling her Grandma, so if I can make the effort, can’t others?

Yeah, you all know who you are.

Anyway, I always introduce myself as Robert. Ever since the beginning of 9th grade I’ve introduced myself as Robert. And I get called Rob about half of the time, and I find that quite interesting. Laura‘s step-dad, Ron, prefers to go by Ronald (and yet I still call him Ron, I need to work on that) and always introduces himself as such. He says in New Orleans, his hometown, nobody ever really calls someone else by a nickname. They call that person by their real name. I think it’s just a part of culture here out in the western US, and maybe elsewhere. It just happens.

So I get called Robert and Rob a lot, but what about other names? Here are some that I get called on a regular-enough basis that I can remember them:

• Ludwick
• The Lud
• The Spartan (that’s another story entirely)
• Sludgewick (creative)
• Spudwick
• Robbo
• Roberto
• RobZone (sweet!)
• Dr. Love

So yeah, the story on Dr. Love… I’ve always liked that song by KISS. I first heard it in the movie Detroit Rock City. I ended up downloading it. Soon it became a part of jokes for me where I would tell people “They call me Dr. Love.” See my last post if you’re unclear as to why I make jokes like this, haha.

So anyway, I once said this to a coworker back when I worked at Swim2000. He said he didn’t believe me, so I said “Nah, everybody does, even Bruno.” Bruno is the owner. So he went and asked Bruno and of course Bruno denied it. Well two days later I was leaving and he and Bruno were still in the office. I said something along the lines of “see ya tomorrow” and Bruno chimes in “Ok, see you tomorrow Dr. Love.”

Thus, I have actually been called Dr. Love.

[Update]

Late addition to the list: Fludwick