Gamers gonna game, and when they have a P2, P3, … Pn, the games multiply in both scale and complexity. Sometimes that complexity turns into a social problem when P1 makes a call to the credit card company on behalf of P2 or P3 (with their permission).
Specifically, suppose P2’s name implies a specific gender that doesn’t match the implied gender of P1’s voice. Sometimes customer service representatives don’t care, but sometimes they very much do and there’s a referral to the fraud team waiting for you at the end of the call. There are a few ways to address this:
- Have P2 on the phone with you at the start of a call and ask them to give you permission to talk on their behalf, then take over
- Add yourself as an account manager either online or over the phone ahead of time, then call as the account manager
- Open cards with a more gender neutral nickname of P2‘s legal name
Let’s focus on the last item: It’s not necessarily well known, but all major credit card issuers will issue cards and accounts with nicknames instead of exact legal names, as long as the nickname relatively closely resembles the name. So, when you open the a new credit card for P2, consider whether a nickname might help you in the future. Some examples:
- Robert → Roberta
- Alexis → Alex
- Beatrice → Beatri
- Mary → Maryo
- Vanessa → Vane
- Tyler → Tyla
- Josh → Jos
- Victoria → Victor
- Kieran → Macaulay
Obviously this trick should only be used with permission from your other players. Good luck out there!
Sometimes gender neutral names can be great for churning, just ask Fire Penguin Disco Panda.