Not Exactly Politically Connected, but Close Enough

When I got married in 1995, I got saddled with a fairly uncommon last name. It's only six letters long, but people seldom get it right. The name "Wergin" is of German heritage, and the "g" is pronounced as a hard "g". When people hear the name for the first time, many times it's mistakenly heard as "Morgan." Whenever my husband and I are waiting for a table at a restaurant and the host calls out the name "Morgan," we look to see if anyone approaches the hostess. Usually no one does, and that's when we know our table is ready. At one restaurant we waited for over two hours for our table until my husband finally approached the hostess. "I'm sorry, we called your name over an hour ago Mr. Borkin," she explained.

But even more unusual than the many ways people inadvertently abominate our name is how many people I've met that actually have our same last name. Once my husband and I went to dinner in Milwaukee and we were sitting at a bar waiting to be called. One other couple was in the bar sitting directly across from us on the other side. After a few minutes the hostess walked in and said, "Wergin?"

My husband and I got up, and so did the other couple. We all looked at each other, probably each of us thinking that the other had misheard the name. When we approached the hostess stand we learned that in a strange coincidence the other couple was also named Wergin.

Then there was the time that I got a phone call from a man named Ken Wergin in Milwaukee telling me that he had somehow been receiving my husband's e-mails. I never did ask him if he was the same guy at the restaurant several years earlier.

But there's one situation where sharing this distinctive and not-very-poetic last name has, unbeknownst to us, worked to my husband's and my benefit. But only when we travel to Minnesota. Thanks to a certain senator in that state.

It came to our attention quite innocently while having dinner at a restaurant in Mille Lacs Minnesota about a year ago. We had started vacationing in Minnesota several years earlier, as a means of "trying out" the state, with the notion of possibly retiring there in the future. For several summers we rented a cottage at a small resort. By the second summer we were pretty much convinced that Minnesota had everything we were looking for, but most importantly it seemed that people just seemed friendlier, more accommodating. It seemed like every time we called for a dinner or hotel reservation we got an upgrade in our room, or the cabin with the nicest lake view, or the best table in a restaurant. Not to mention the time our car died and the tow truck arrived within 10 minutes flat.

Minnesota was really starting to grow on us.

Then one night while vacationing in Gull Lake, we dined at a nearby casino restaurant. The waitress was extremely friendly. Finally when dinner was over and she brought us our check she asked somewhat timidly, "So, are you related to Betsy Wergin?"

My husband and I looked at each other blankly. Finally he said, "I don't think so. Who is she?"

"Our state senator - Besty Wergin?" she emphasized.

Oh - that Betsy Wergin.

Not only were we not related, we didn't even know there was a Senator Wergin.

Things suddenly became a little clearer. Senator Wergin had gotten elected right around the time we started our summer vacationing in Minnesota. The reality was starting to set in - Minnesotans probably didn't necessarily like us as much as we thought they did- all this time they probably just thought we were more important than we really are - or at least related to someone to someone who was.

I guess the only way we'll ever know for sure is if Senator Wergin loses the election in 2010.

But, until then, I guess there's no harm in enunciating and spelling my name very clearly when visiting the land of 10,000 lakes.