Why ask?

I’ve just been in hospital for a minor procedure necessitating an overnight stay. Apart from always asking for my full name, the plethora of forms I completed always demanded that I give my preferred name as well.

Now this is a boon for me because I am known by my second name, Winston, and never by my first, Maxwell. In fact I rarely respond to Maxwell if so addressed as it’s alien to my ears.

However, although my preferred name was clearly stated everywhere, I was rarely addressed by it. Inevitably, it was always, “Hello Maxwell” (even though it was writ large on the whiteboard above my bed.

Now, I know it’s not a problem of shattering gravity but why ask for it if nobody ever uses it?