Actually, I would like to change the title of the essay to "The moments I always get misunderstood", as it fits better with what is happening to me frequently. I don't remember the first time it happened, just that it was many years ago, maybe 1995, which was my first year here in Spain.
Since then, it happens to me again and again, during telephone calls, purchasing bigger things, making contracts, etc. always that somebody else has to fill out my personal data in some document! The big problem is my german surname: ECKERT which is impossible for me to pronounce in a way that Spanish people would know how to write it. They pronounce it "Etchert" or "Esquert" as they get confused with the "C". Actually, it is quite simple, as the "C" is not pronounced at all! So you could simply say "EKERT".
But they don't know this and this is where my real problem enters: I have to spell my name such that the other person could write it down. I first tried it like "E", "C", "K" etc. but this was not easy by phone e.g. people got the letters often wrong and it took a long time and many nerves to get them understanding everything. My life changed the day I heard my secretary spelling my name by phone to some other secretary. She said: "E de España", "C de casa", "K de Kilo" etc. I memorized the way she said it and since then I am always using it in exactly the same manner! I owe her my life!!! :-)
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