The next time you call an 800 number for customer service and hear a friendly greeting from Jane Drew, think about whether her real name is Nancy Doe.
In industries as varied as telemarketing, debt collecting, retail sales and hotels, some workers on the front lines of customer contact use pseudonyms to protect their privacy and avoid harassment outside the job.
Tax collectors who worked under their actual names have had phony liens filed against their homes or have been subscribed to pornographic magazines by disgruntled taxpayers, said Richard Yancey, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based author who wrote about his use of an alias in the memoir “Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man’s Tour of Duty Inside the IRS.”
At Afni Inc., a Bloomington, Ill.-based collection agency, all 200 collectors have pseudonyms, said Debra J. Ciskey, director of the performance development group.
Once, a new collector didn’t want to “hide behind” a fake name, and used his real name. It wasn’t long before a debtor tracked him down outside work.
“I have a tape of a death threat he got on his answering machine at home. If you get hold of somebody who is mad — that’s all it takes,” Ciskey said. “He was the nicest guy, a very civil collector.”
For this complete story, please visit Pseudonyms Encouraged at Many Collection Agencies.
