Building a Team

On Wednesday, the new girl, Chelsea, asked why several people referred to our coworker, Michael, by his full name.  I suggested that it was probably to differentiate him from one of the managers who is also named Michael.  Michael our coworker agreed with my posit, but also agreed with Chelsea that it was a little distracting sometimes.  Then, as a joke, I said, "That's why I call him B-Man" (Michael's last name starts with B).  He laughed and said we should actually call him that.  It was a simple joke.

At least, it was intended to be.

Later on, I asked my coworkers if they smelled something weird -- they didn't -- but Chelsea said she would ask around.  Making another joke, I called her Detective [her last name].  She then said that I needed a nickname since everyone else in the department had one.  I said that I've never had a nickname before and I didn't intend to start now.  Chelsea said that giving each other nicknames would help with team-building.  After I returned from a bathroom break, I was told that I was now "JLa."  For those of you who don't know, actress Jennifer Lawrence is often referred to by the media as "J-Law" -- so I said they'd have to do better than stealing a nickname from someone else.  Chelsea protested that I don't have a say in the matter, but I pointed out that both she and Michael accepted their nicknames (which weren't intended to stick), and I was simply asking them to be more original.  After talking to Michael, they came up with "L-Dawg," probably because I'm so obviously the opposite of a rapper or a gangster.  I still didn't really like it, but it was more original than their first attempt, so I acquiesced.

This whole thing was rather silly and, if I'm being honest, a little annoying.  But I guess I only have myself to blame.  After all, I was the one that first started calling my coworkers silly names; who would have guessed that joking around would have had such an impact?