This reminds me of a funny event when in fourth of fifth grate. When the class was supposed to stand in line we always had to sort based on last name. My last name started with Ö (Last letter in alphabet in the Nordics) so I always ended up last. Then one time, the teacher said something like "Let's reverse the order today, but wait, we also sort on the first name". My first name starts with an A so I ended up last in line anyway, much to the joy of everyone :)

Like most inequities, those who are in the benefiting group frequently don't realize that privilege.

They realize (bring form to, make real) them, but don't realize (understand) them

I hate how much I love this worthlessly picky comment

Love me or hate me, you gotta love me!

http://sdwr.ca/link/26

This reminds me of cliques. I give them the definition: insight everyone can recite but nobody can act upon.

I think you mean clichés.

I do. Gotta live swipe and homophones

I for one am glad that I was not born a mosquito, the odds are not in our favor!

Similar initials, frequently last in line, and same.

I wonder if this was the kiln of my patience and acceptance, or if people who road rage and get frustrated with waits are more likely to have earlier lettered names?

I really cannot stand sitting in a car in traffic and my last name starts with an A, interesting!

Outside of school I can’t think of even a single instance of alphabetical sorting of my name (I have a middle letter). What situations are you in that this comes up a lot?

Company Discord of a client. My name is among the top.

It's a remote job so, being frequently visible in that list can be an advantage.

My mom made the critical mistake of marrying from first five letters down to last five letters during the police academy, only later to be released from the "we have to expose you to tear gas so you know how it feels and only use it judiciously" chamber in alphabetical order by last name.

It was 40ish years ago and I still don't think she's forgiven my dad.

I have a middle letter and also don't remember this happening much.

We should ask people with later letters if they remember this more.

I'm a near last letter surname. It's not uncommon for arbitrary things to be sorted by name, but a ton of official things use surname ordering. There's things that also I tend to seem to be last on where I don't know the sorting method, but I suspect it isn't uncommon for someone to just throw in a sort somewhere (though it's also common to see people do things in a LIFO so disadvantage people who get shit done on time... My apartment renewal does that...). I also remember getting a PCR test in covid where they binned by last name.

I can just say I do remember being last in a lot of arbitrary and official things and seeing other friends just get done with it faster and have to waste less time sitting and waiting.

Yeah I don't think it really happens outside school, but school is pretty formative and it happens all the time in school.

It happens in your phone contacts when you’re deciding who to talk to. You’re starting with your Abrahams, Billys and Changs, probably rarely reaching out to your Xaviers, Yusufs and Zeldas about going out tonight because you’ve already assembled a crew by the time you reach the Mimis, Natashas and Ottos.

I don't think many people use their phone contact list like that.

I wouldn't be surprised. It's very natural. Probably not for that specific use case but if for some reason you are actually going through the list then it's natural

Plus, it's common for me to meet someone on a first-name basis and not find out their last name right away. And people's last names change more often than their first names. Phone sorting by first name is the way to go.

Do none of your friends like or dislike any of your other friends?

Probably but that’s not how they’re organized in my contacts. It’s a list not a graph.

just want to add that in my lifetime that switched from being "by last name" to "by first name". So, Yusuf Ahmed and Abraham Zigfeld experienced a noticeable shift in popularity that they were totally unprepared for

My daily standup is run by the order my boss sees the participants in the JIRA board -- My first name starts with W, so I'm last in that list. Makes staying engaged the whole meeting hard...

I'm the first in the list, which has some advantages, but I do get tired of always being the first person to throw themselves on whatever grenade is lying around.

Probably every single health or wellness "Find a Provider" portal lists them A-Z. That's a multi-billion dollar industry. If I was Dr. Zachary Zane, I'd change my name.

AAA Aches and Ailment

As the other poster said, the order of standup and other such things. Having a "Z" means that you're usually last, and sometimes people make a point of "hey let's do it in reverse today" where I end up being first.

I remember when working on joint tasks, by the time it got to me, most of the people that worked with me had already given their updates and details. So when it was my turn, I'd say "same as A, B, C", cause they'd given all the juicy details.

Other than that, it's pretty straightforward and boring. The world doesn't magically function differently for us.

The order in JIRA boards during the daily standups comes to mind. I am sure there are similar examples in other domains that are not software related.

Whenever my Doctor's office calls to arrange annual vaccines, I (surname starts with A) get an appointment just before my boyfriend's (surname starts with B) because they invariably phone me about 10-20 minutes before him.

Do you have something to say about this? I'm confused, why did I read this wikipedia page?

(just doing roll call here with initals WW)

When I was a kid marbles were the big thing, and if you were playing with them in class the teacher would put it in a big glass jar. When it was full he would call out the kids and each would get a handful.

I was last in the alphabet; this was already an issue with books we had to read; you could choose which book to read, but it was always in alphabetical order. When it was my turn there were just a few left, and certainly all the popular high-demand ones were gone.

Anyway, when it finally was my turn to get my marbles he was all out. When I asked "where's my marbles?" he just shrugged and said "all out". I must've been about 7. Lots of crying ensued and I think I got some marbles from other kids, but it wasn't about the marbles – not really.

I still don't understand how anyone can expect any different result...

This seems like a good example (free of cultural baggage) of how people with privilege often don't notice that they're receiving that privilege. What seemed normal and fair to your friend turned out to be an advantage that they didn't even consider.

> Asking a friend whose initials are A and B about this, it's not something they ever noticed.

Kinda surprised, my last name starts with C and I was hyper-aware of this and how random it was probably all the way from kindergarten. Being a child and therefore an asshole, I was grateful for my advantage rather than thinking the system was unjust.