A Las Vegas great-grandma was left with a red-face when her name was shortened to a profanity on a Walmart screen for all to see.
Fran Young, 71, was waiting on a pick-up order at her local Walmart store. After sitting for 20 minutes underneath a giant screen, she began to wonder why people were walking past and laughing continuously.
The pensioner said she was ‘beet red’ with embarrassment when she saw her name had been condensed to F. You.
Mishap: Las Vegas-based great-grandmother Fran Young was left embarrassed after a tech mishap caused her name to appear like a profanity
Waiting: The red-faced pensioner was left sitting underneath the sign for 20 minutes with no idea why everyone was laughing at her
‘It has caused a lot of giggles and a lot of laughter,’ Fran told Metro.co.uk. ‘In the beginning, I was so overwhelmed with embarrassment because I was thinking this isn’t supposed to happen in public.’
‘I sat down in this waiting area. As I’m sitting there I would hear people behind me laughing as they were walking by. ‘I thought, ‘oh, something must have been funny,” she recalled.
Even when more laughter ensued, she still sat under the screen oblivious.
Keeping up with the Youngs: After 40 years of identifying as Fran Young, the woman, pictured with husband Tim, said she will change it to prevent future mix ups
‘Then people would be walking up the one aisle and I would hear people laughing. I thought, ‘this is a funny crowd here’.
However, after 15 minutes of giggles, she started to feel that something may have been going on.
‘I looked over to my right where people were giggling and walking up. I’m sitting in a chair all by myself and they just looked at me, laughing and kept walking.’
‘As I sit there I’m looking around and I happen to look up and I see the sign with the big letters F You. I am like, ‘oh no, this is not happening to me’.
California-born Fran said she was ‘dying’ of embarrassment as she realized she was the butt of the joke all along.
When she got home, she posted the mishap to Facebook, where hundreds of people commented on and shared the incident.
Fran told friends who chimed in that she was so mortified she ‘wanted to crawl under a chair’. Although, she eventually did agree with commentors who reckoned the incident was ‘hilarious’.
It’s not the first time her married name has got her in trouble either. Her maiden name is Erickson, but she has gone by Young since marrying her husband Tim, 63, 40 years ago.
During a knee operation three years ago, doctors also shortened her name to those four letters for the purpose of hospital documents and the surgery board.
‘I could hear all this laughter out in the hall and I thought, man, you guys are having a good time. Even my doctor thought it was funny because he came in to say hi and just said, ‘thank you for the laughter,” she said.
At the time, she hoped it would never happen again.
Husband: Fran joked that her husband Tim, with whom she is pictured, can pick up the Walmart orders from now on
Now, she has decided to go by Fran Erickson Young to avoid any further mix ups.
‘I told my husband that I am changing my name. I’ll go back to my maiden name. I would be safe with that [Erickson]. He was laughing and joking that after almost 40 years I was going to change my name now,’ she said.
‘I’m not ordering from Walmart for pickup at all now. I will let my husband do it and then it will be T You. Or I will put in a different name, it’s not going to be ‘Young’ again. At least I know now,’ she laughed.