After these egregious offenses, I have developed what I call “Post-Traumatic Name Syndrome” where I become terrified at the sight of a coffee barista-type with a microphone, just waiting to scream “BAHN-gee” to the delight of everyone nearby. When they lean over to say a name, I jump.
Fortunately, to my surprise, they got it right last week at Aroma. When I saw the receipt, saw why: they had actually entered my name in English. 
Hmm…that’s interesting. That can’t be easy, right? To switch languages and hunt and peck for the English letters? Thank you, Aroma.
In the meantime, I’ve figured out a way to get revenge on people who call me “BAHN-gee”. I tell them my last name is “Massachusetts.” They hate saying that word.
Benji Massachusetts: Coming to an Arena Near You.







Now that is funny. There’s an Aroma at the CBS in Jerusalem that always gets my name wrong. It’s an Israeli name, for G-d’s sake. Apparently, my face looks like Alona or Yelena instead of Ilana–even though that’s what’s written there in HEBREW.
Aroma in NYC is the same. On a good day I’m FIBI.
Hilarious! Once you get them to pronounce Massachusets correctly (ha ha), try to get Aroma to spell Mississippi on their little receipt.