Last night the announcement was made at work that I am no longer (birthname) "she", but now Jamison "he".  I am happy to say that management handled it really, really well, and so far it's been a positive experience.  Whew!

When the announcement was first made it was a little unnerving, as it was met with utter silence.  You really could have heard a pin drop.  Then the head honcho and the head of Operations at our DC each made short speeches about their admiration for the atmosphere of acceptance they have encountered at our facility, and the company's feelings about diversity, and offered me public congrats.  The head of HR also stuck around for a couple hours that night, even though she usually works days, so that she would be available to answer people's questions and to head off any issues that might arise before they became major problems.  So, basically, it was handled in a very positive, "we know you'll all do the right thing and be respectful" kind of way, and people seem to be following the example. 

It's only been one night, but so far nobody has had an issue with me.  Several people offered me their congratulations.  One person said she had thought something was going on, but had been afraid to ask.    Interestingly enough one of the people that I was most worried about having an issue with it was actually one of the first to say congratulations, and to sincerely offer the opinion that he admired the guts it took to go through with transition.    And one of the guys from the shipping dock was moved to tears when he expressed his admiration for my courage.  That was a bit awkward, but very sweet.    (I'm putting it down to sympathy hormonal emotionalism, given his wife is 8 months pregnant.  )  And a couple of the coodinators made a point of letting me know that they had my back if there were any problems.  So, at this point, I'm coming to the conclusion that I work with a really great group of people.

The main question I've gotten so far (repeatedly) is, "Can we call you James/Jamie?"  I find it interesting that, when I was a girl people could handle 3 syllables, but as a guy people find it too difficult.

P.S.  Another cool thing - Last night was also the 2nd anniversary of my hire date.  Generally the management team signs a nice little thank you card for each employee for his or her anniversary.  I'm very happy to report that they each made a point of including a brief note addressed to me with my new name.  I thought that was a nice touch.

Quote from: Valeriedances on November 05, 2009, 06:41:03 AM
You say you were present for the announcement? Wow again... I could not be present for my work announcement this week, I had HR do several presentations. What an experience it must have been for you. I admire you so much for your courage of being present for it. It gives me butterflies in my stomach, lol. Bravo!

Yes, I was there for the announcement on my shift.  I'm not going to be there for the other shifts, but mainly because I don't want to have to go in at 8 o'clock in the morning to be scrutinized by a group of people, most of whom I've never met.  Especially not after working until 3 in the morning.    It was a bit nerve wracking, but I'm too much of a control freak to leave it to someone else without being there to supervise. 

And may I say, I'm honored to have inspired your first post, Valeriedances.  Welcome.

You always want the one syllable name, and at that, you want it with a consonant ending, not a vowel ending, and certainly not the 'ie'/'y' ending.  And at that, you only want one name.  Al, Bill, Jim, Jack, Ed - that stuff. 

The one syllable/one name thing is sort of an honor.  Like Cher, Elvis, Bono, and Bond.  He's always Bond.  Just Bond.  Even his intro is "I'm Bond, James Bond.  That whole 'James Bond' part comes after the comma, its not important.  It's just Bond. "Get Bond in here."  "Where's Bond."  He don't need two names, everyone knows him by the one.

And the ie/y deal is a feminizing/youthful diminutive.  Like Hippie is to Hip.  A baby hipster.  It seems to work out OK for rock stars, which is not a grownup thing to do - so Jerry, Bobby, Jimmie, but you don't want that on the loading dock.

I even think the longer name is also used as a feminizing/youthful diminutive.  It's why we give serial killers three names, John Wayne Gacy, James Earl Ray, it makes them sound more like either "Amanda Jane Peperidge" which is real priss when girls do it, or "Throckmorton Winfred Nantucket" who you would know right off the bat was a douche if they introduced themselves to you like that.

It's great to be "hey I'm Jim."

I'm telling them they can shorten it to anything but Jimmy or Jimbo.    And no, I didn't really change my appearance.  Well, other than to dye my hair back to dark brown after having bleached it for Halloween.  But I have been making gradual changes over the last year or so.  Although my hair was always short, I've been cutting it shorter and in a more masculine manner.  I started binding my chest about 8 or nine months ago, and started taking hormones six months ago.

As for the name thing -  I think there is a definite generational (and possibly class?) difference there.  When my cousin, Alan,  was born in the late 60's my grandfather predicted that he would be called "Al", unless he was a sissy.  By the time he was is school, nobody even thought of calling him Al.  And by the time I was in school several years later there were tons of Williams and Jonathans and Christophers who would have automatically been "Bill", "John" and "Chris" a few years earlier, who were now going by their full names.

But, yes, there does still seem to be a lot less leeway for boys' names than for girls'.  And interestingly enough, I'm finding most of the ladies want to call me Jamie, and most of the guys want to call me James.  I guess the girls must think I'm adorable and the guys must think I'm tough, right? 

Total awesome, Jamie.  You go, Boy.

I wish all the best life can give.


Janet

Way cool.   Congratulations, Jamie!

I agree with the age/name thing.  Being older, I would say guys names are almost always one or two syllables.  But I know younger guys are accepted with multi-syllabic names.  And yes, very probably the women think you are cute and the men think you are tough.  Good for you!

Quote from: Jamie-o on November 05, 2009, 06:12:19 AM
Interestingly enough one of the people that I was most worried about having an issue with it was actually one of the first to say congratulations, and to sincerely offer the opinion that he admired the guts it took to go through with transition. 

When I came out to a conservative, very macho friend he readily accepted me and said: "It takes a lot of balls to do what you're doing."  I let it pass because I couldn't think of a good reply. 

Wonderful news Jamie, you cutey.

- Kate

congrats dude!  so happy it was a smooth transition for ya, and how cool of your HR person to stick around! the card was a really nice touch, too!

I'm right behind ya, found out today that all the managers were told on monday and that all informed their team members over the last few days. a couple of the girls came up to me today to offer their support.

Great news Jamie, Jim, whatever

I'm so very happy for you. Sounds like a great group of people to work with. Also, since the HR etc are so willing to go an extra bit for you, you are obviously a valued employee as well. Which means, as I always knew, you are a great guy.

Congrats Again.

You can buy me Roses and Champagne anytime. But I'm not easy, I just like nice guys. (Ok I'm easy for a nice guy)


Cindy

Go Jamie, good to  hear mate.    Just an "aussie" term that 'mate'....   

Congrats! Nice to know they took it well.

*tackle* Gratz.  Really good to hear that they've taken it well, James 

That is funny that the women want to call you Jamie & the guys James, but it wouldn't be the first time I've heard of people giving different nicknames on the basis of (their own) gender.  The short 1-or-2 syllable name for guys still holds where I live, even for the younger generation; if your name is longer, you can pretty much count on it being shortened.  I'm trying, but I cannot think of a single guy I grew up with who still went by his full name by the time he hit high school.  In fact, I remember a couple guys making a big deal about not wanting to be called their full names (Christopher insisted on Chris, Alexander preferred Alex) or not wanting people to add the -y suffix anymore (like the kid who went from Jimmy to Jim when he got older).

Yes, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it's a regional thing.  Now that I think about it, most of the guys who used their full names were in the SF bay area, or in Seattle.  So it may very well have been an upper-middle-class-West-Coast-in-the-90's thing.    It could also be that my perceptions are skewed because I spent most of my teens in Europe.  *shrugs*  Whatever.  I'm not too fussed.  My only concern is potential confusion if we hire another Jamie or James.  I've never had the experience of having the same name as someone else before.  It will be a bit strange and unsettling.