I forgot my ID badge this morning, so I had to head down to the security office to get me a temporary one when I got to work. A co-worker I”ve never met (we have a few hundred people in the office) was also down getting a temp badge, and he was served first.
Security Guard: “What your name?”
Co-worker: “[famous boxer"s name]“
Me: “[famous boxer"s name]?”
Co-worker: “Yeah, he”s my dad. I”m a junior.”
And apparently he”s telling the truth. The guy chatted another security guard up about what his dad is doing now and all that stuff.
After we secured temporary badges, [famous boxer"s name] Jr. and I rode the elevator up together.
Me: “Seriously. You”re [famous boxer"s name]“s son?”
Co-worker: “Yeah”
Me: “Cool”
After telling a bunch of people I work with that [famous boxer"s name]“s son works in our company (accounts receivable, it turns out), I started to ponder the life of a celebrity “junior” living an apparently very normal existence.
You have to figure every time dude is asked his name he gets the same treatment we gave him in the security office. As a junior, there”s no escaping the association. And [famous boxer"s name] is a pretty unique moniker; anybody who”s heard the name will ask him about it.
And it”s not like he”s rolling up to Buckhead clubs in a Bentley or something. By all accounts, dude is pretty normal. He”s getting the question at his office”s security desk, for Chrissakes.
As the “junior” of a once-infamous man, I got a whole lot of “[cap"n ken"s real name] - are you related to that missing guy?” back in the day, so I have a sense of what it”s like to hesitate when somebody asks you your name. It”s not a bad thing for [famous boxer"s name] Jr., but I can imagine it gets old.
Especially when you”re a work-a-day Joe like everybody else.
[editor"s note: although it might be logical to assume that since this story took place in Atlanta the boxer in question is Evander Holyfield, that"s not the case. However, considering Evander is the father of approximately 10% of all Atlantans born in the past 25 years, it"s not a bad guess.]
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