Ever get an email that was intended for someone else? I get email mix-ups ON THE REGULAR. And I’m not talking like a friend that accidentally emailed me instead of someone else. I’m talking about emails intended for complete strangers. Complete strangers who just so happen to share something in common with me: the name Robert Gavin.
You see, my personal email is basically just a variation of my first and last name at Gmail. I jumped onto the Gmail bandwagon super-early (I remember constantly begging everyone I knew to send me an invite way back when it was in beta in 2004), so I wound up with a great email address. And apparently, these other Robert Gavins have a very similar email or they or their family members seem to think that my email is actually theirs. So I wind up with an endless stream of emails intended for many of the other Robert Gavin’s of this world. One of my favorite webcomics, XKCD, actually created a comic about this very situation:
My name is not super common, like John Smith. But apparently, it’s common enough that there are quite a few Robert Gavin’s out there. You can easily find a whole bunch with a quick Facebook search. There are even some C-list celebrities that have the name Robert Gavin. Remember the early 90’s remake of Land of the Lost? I do because it was usually on TV when my sister Krissy and I got ready for school in the morning. One of the stars of that show was named, you guessed it, Robert Gavin. There was even a Scottish painter named Robert Gavin in the 1800s who, eerily enough, died exactly 100 years to the day before I was born. Isn’t that a wild coincidence?
So what have I learned about these other Robert Gavins? For most of them, not much other than that they have the same name and a similar email address to mine. But I have learned a bit more about some them from the emails that have come my way. Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order:
The Wealthy Robert Gavin
The first email mix-up that stands out in my mind was actually also the wealthiest one I’ve seen so far. One day, I got an invoice in my email from an online chair company. The Robert Gavin in question had bought two Aeron chairs, which are rather expensive at over $1,000 each, and had them shipped to his home in California. In Hidden Hills – which is a gated community for the very wealthy. Right now, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, and the Kardashians all live in Hidden Hills.
And since I had the wealthy Robert Gavin’s shipping address, I checked out his house online. And wow, this Robert Gavin is really well off. It’s a sprawling ranch home that, while not exactly Maria’s and my style, is still quite beautiful. I just checked out the house again and it sold in 2017 for $5,150,000.
The Golfing Robert Gavin
Probably my favorite Robert Gavin lives across the pond somewhere in the UK. At one point, I accidentally ended up on the email list for a group of his friends when they were planning one of their regular golf outings. And I remained on that list for the next couple of years, despite my repeated emails about the incorrect Robert Gavin being included. I got to know quite a bit about this Robert Gavin. I learned his wife’s name, I knew many of his friends (who were very apologetic when they accidentally emailed me), and I honestly didn’t mind when I got their emails. They mostly made me chuckle.
The Out-of-Work Robert Gavin
On the other end of the spectrum is the Robert Gavin I felt pretty bad for. This Mr. Gavin lived in the Vancouver area, I believe. He was an out-of-work carpenter who was just looking for a job. And he got a lot of interest from potential employers, too. Except that all of his interview requests came to my email and not his. This series of emails was the hardest for me because I really wished I knew the correct email for that Robert Gavin so I could forward those emails, but I had no way of tracking it down. They did eventually stop, so I hope he found work or at least realized he had the wrong email address distributed to potential employers.
The Single Robert Gavin
Most recently, one of my doppelgangers signed up for a dating service. I believe it was OkCupid, but I honestly cannot remember since I deleted all of the matches pretty quickly. Normally, I don’t like getting into these Robert Gavin’s accounts, but I hit unsubscribe really quickly on that. I also made sure to tell Maria as soon as those emails started to avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings (we did meet online, after all). Though she just laughed about it and said I should write a blog post about it, so here we are. My wife is amazing, folks.
Other Roberts Gavins
The above ones aren’t all of the Robert Gavin’s who have accidentally used my email address, they’re just the ones that stuck out the most to me.
There were numerous others, including:
- There was another person in the UK whose family friend kept sending me her travelogues and photos.
- There was the Robert Gavin in New Jersey who rented a car.
- There was the Robert Gavin in Pittsburgh who joined a gym.
- There was the couple who booked a flight to the west coast. The husband’s name is Robert Gavin and the wife just made a typo when she entered his email address.
- There was the Robert Gavin who applied for a therapist job with the federal government.
- And there were a bunch of invoices for Robert Gavin’s in the UK for various services, most of which I have deleted and cannot remember what they were (I guess Robert Gavin is a common name in the UK. Go figure).
I don’t know how common a problem this is for other people, but it sure has brought some interesting anecdotes into my life. Do you have a similar story with an identity mix-up like this? I’d love for you to share it, at the very least so I know I’m not the only person who has this problem.
This is hilarious. I love this blog post :-)
I don’t have this problem because my name is actually unique in the world apparently – therefore, didn’t change my name when I got married to Chris Smith. The hubby has had some interesting mix-up adventures over the years.
The most recent one was when his current employer confused him with another Chris Smith who has applied for an internal transfer from the US to the company’s office in Germany. We got invites for the family to attend briefings on international moves, relocation assistance package details, etc etc etc. It took months to get us off that list and the correct Chris Smith on it. WeI hope the international move goes well for him and his family, they should be there by now!
The hubby also did 20ish years in the US Navy and on one of his last assignments got to take a lengthy trip to Seoul, South Korea. For some reason they didn’t put him into military housing but in the big Hilton hotel. Upon check-in he found himself in a massive suite overlooking the city for 4 weeks. How in the world does the US military afford that? Turns out that they don’t. But there is a congressman from New Jersey called Chris Smith and apparently when that congressman has high status with a hotel chain and is a somewhat prominent politician you get one of the good upgrades. Hilton never put hubby into a regular room, they apologized for the confusion and told him to keep the room.
And then there is the annual panhandling season where the University of Michigan conducts harassing phone and email spam campaigns to raise funding from alumni. Hubby never attended the University of Michigan and neither is he Dr Chris Smith. No, we don’t want to give to that university and please take us off your list – that never works.
AMAZING! Your husband’s South Korea story is WAY better than anything I have! That’s really, really funny, haha! And I can sympathize with those University of Michigan calls. They stopped calling me a long time ago, but it took a lot of work.
Hooray, a fellow Dorothee!! I am named after my German maternal grandmother. Fortunately, I have never had any name mix-ups (especially since neither my maiden name nor my married name are super common). Unfortunately, I can never find monogrammed souvenirs in gift shops. Oh well. Haha!
Oh my gosh! I’ve not had that happen in a long time! I am originally from Germany and therefore the somewhat unusual spelling that makes the life of every Starbucks barista hard :-)
I hear you on the souvenirs but it also makes me a lot less likely to buy that junk.
This is one of the most original blog posts I’ve ever read! What a funny, entertaining spin on what some people would just see as an inconvenience. I have a somewhat uncommon first name that’s almost identical to an extremely common first name…so I have spent my entire life saying, “No, it’s Kirsten, actually…” People have even argued with me that it’s not a *real* name!
Thanks so much, that’s really nice! I can understand about the uncommon first name. I’ve known a couple of Kirstens and I imagine it’s a common problem. My sister’s name is Kristin and she’s had her own problems with people pronouncing it “kris-ten” instead of “kris-tin”.
Great post! So funny! My last name is unique, and I haven’t gotten any emails like that. However, my husband received an email from a barrister in London who informed him that he is due to inherit millions from a relative he has nevrr heard of (imaginary). That was fun!
Thanks! That would be fun momentarily to get an email like that, haha!
Someone in Australia has been using my email on and off for a couple of years. The latest is that their cable company is emailing me their cable bills. And since they haven’t gotten a bill, they haven’t paid. And they are currently about to be disconnected. Emails come from an address that doesn’t allow replies, so I can’t tell the cable company they have the wrong address, and to try sending a paper bill. Email doesn’t even have a full name for the person, just first name (not the same as me, just same first initial).
Yeah, that’s a bummer. Like, I feel bad, but at the same time, people need to be careful when typing out their email. Especially in a case like yours where you’ve been getting their emails for years, so you would think they would know they have a habit of typing wrong.
This post made me smile, just what I needed today!
Happy to help!
Love this blog post! I love your sweet family.
Thank you!
When broadband internet finally arrived in our area around the turn of the century, we signed up quickly. So, I managed to snag an email address with my first initial and last name. There is a person at a university with whom I share a first initial and last name who uses the same ISP. I once received emails regarding a hiring decision at her university. Oops! The good news, at least, is that with a little sleuthing I was able to find her actual email address to forward the material — and of course I notified the senders as well. I’ve received party planning emails, emails from an art museum overseas, and email about setting up a symposium.
Haha! At least you were able to find her actual email eventually. That’s always been my struggle.
For awhile I got the pay stub for a “Megan” in Australia. Apparently she was selling party supplies. It was one of those “no reply” emails so I just let it go and figured they’d figure it out eventually-they did.
Another time I got an email from a dad whose daughter had my exact first and last name (mine is by marriage). I responded to him and he actually wrote back telling me she was in the Air Force. We corresponded a couple of times after that to see if there was any relation, there wasn’t.
It seems like this is a more common situation than I anticipated. It’s kinda nice when you’re able to at least respond to some of the emails; I find more often than not that I can’t respond at all because I don’t know the right email address.
I love this! For the past couple of years, I’ve been getting debt-collection emails first from a bank and now from a lawyer in New Zealand about my outstanding debt. Apparently some woman in New Zealand who has my first and last name gave my email when she applied for a loan a few years ago, and she hasn’t kept up with payments on said loan.
I’ve tried to contact both the bank and lawyers to explain to them that I’m not the woman they want, but that hasn’t deterred them.
Yeah, some people try to dodge debt however they can. At my first house, I had a company that kept sending collection notices to the old owner despite me sending letters back on my law offices letterhead. They didn’t stop until a process server showed up at my door and I told him that the old owners had moved.
This was so funny. Thanks for writing about all your multiple identities. Personally, I don’t even know anyone else with the last name of Gavin and I’m a teacher who has come across thousands of last names over the years.
That’s funny that you haven’t met any other Gavin’s. One of the counselors at my high school was Mr. Gavin, but there was no relation we were aware of.