In cafe. Cashier is taking a break near me and some businessmen.
She gets up to go back to work, “See ya later, Zero.”
The businessmen near me laugh. “Who’s she calling Zero?”
“Me,” I say. They turn.
“That’s your name?”
“That’s my name.”
“Your first name?”
“Yep.”
“Your real name?”
“Yup.”
“What’s your last name?”
“Dean.”
“What’s your middle name?”
“Zachariah”
“A good biblical name.”
The second businessman chimes in, “That had to be tough. Kids these days. They are really… tough.”
“Well, it was a tough name to grow up with, but kids will pick on anything that stands out. If I had some sort of prominent body part, that would’ve been the target — and then I might’ve ended up with some kind of body image issue.”
“Like if you were overweight?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, you look fit. Were you overweight as a kid?”
“No. I just had an unusual name.”
“Oh.”
The first businessman, “Do you like it?”
“Yeah, I think it’s great. And you may not like it at first, but you will remember it later.”
“Ha. I met a real zero today.”
“Well yeah, that’s not the nicest way of putting it, but… yeah.”
And then they left.
But there’s another glimpse into the name thing.
I don’t always get, “For realz!? Awesome!”