Why MIER

A lot of people in the workplace assumed that MIER is a nickname. Very few people know that it's actually my maiden name. Since grade school, I have always been called by my last name, which was then Mier, first because it's easier and shorter, and more importantly, because I like it better.

It's not that I hate my given name. It's just that I find it too feminine. Not to mention it's long. And I don't wanna be called by my second name alone which is Rose, for the obvious reason that I know a lot of people with that name. Hence, my classmates and teachers ever since grade school has been calling me MIER, until I carried it on to high school.

I was called many things in college. I was called, Rose, MR, Mayose, Erose, Erot among other things. When I started working in a call center, I used Mier again as my phone name as it is unique, and since then, most of my colleagues have started calling me by that name.

I wanted to hold on to my last name for as long as I could, however, a guy swept me off my feet too early, and so at a tender age of 23, and being the submissive wife that I am, I filed a status change. (I tried haggling with my husband if I could keep my maiden name but he wouldn't hear of it) It was so funny because it took a while for our IT department to change my log in names after I got married, and people have been wondering when they receive an email from a certain Villamala. The first name was familiar but they couldn't associate it to me, as I have always been Mier to them. It created a confusion for a while, and there I was at my desk smiling.

Now, I'm in a different company, and the original name has long been forgotten. Everytime I see my former co-workers in the mall or in a restaurant, they still call me Mier, matching an apologetic look to my husband. Here in my present company, only a few people know the origin of my call name. They think that it's a shortcut version of my given name. I didn't wanna correct them, as it gives me an excuse to hold on to my maiden name, without the guilty feeling.