Jul 312010
 

When I started my current job at The Law Firm back in April, there was a little discussion about what to call me. There’s already an Erin there, plus an Aaron, whom they call “A-ron” to avoid confusion with the girl one. But now that there was going to be another girl Erin, it was clear that I was going to need a nickname.

Night Erin was quickly decided upon since I work evenings (in a LAW FIRM, Chooch; not the strip club) and I was like, “Well, that’s better than when I worked at Weiss Meats and was known as The Girl for four years.”

There’s one analyst there who, unfailingly, pauses next to my desk and says, “Hello….Night Erin” in this very overly dramatic, husky tone. And then she laughs maniacally like it’s the first time. Her name is Trish.

I had already been there about a week or two before finally meeting Wendy. She had other ideas for my name. Literally right after we were introduced to each other, she goes, “I think we should call you NightTrain,” and then launched into this tale of her hometown and how everyone called the town drunk “Night Train.”

“So you’re naming me after the town drunk,” I repeated, making sure I got this right.

Wendy laughed and nodded.

“I like it,” I said, after considering it. Unfortunately, Night Erin had already started stick, so only those privy to Wendy’s story continued to call me Night Train.

One day a few weeks ago, my boss had caught wind of Wendy’s term of endearment for me and was standing near my desk, talking about it loudly and laughing. “Only Wendy could get away with calling someone that and having them NOT be offended.” It’s true – Wendy might be the happiest person I’ve ever met. Somehow she was able to slap me with an unsavory nickname shared with a fucking sauced hobo and I found myself flattered.

One evening, my boss was yelling, “Night Train’s here!” and Trish, who was walking back to her office, stopped dead in her tracks. “Did you just call her Night Train?” When my boss confirmed, Trish went on to say, “Why in the world would you call her that?” She seemed genuinely concerned about it. “You do know that Night Train is the cheapest liquor money can buy?”

Just another reason to love my new name.