Who Calls Themselves That, Anyway?

So, this is it.

I thought it good to begin by explaining what’s up with my handle: The-EG.

As you may have guessed by now, ‘EG’ is short for ‘evil genius.’

Evil? Genius? Who would choose that?

I wouldn’t choose that, and I didn’t, actually. I’m a firm believer that you can’t choose your own nickname.

This all started about 14 years ago.

My supervisor, a few coworkers and I had been working long hours for multiple days trying to meet a regulatory deadline. Early one morning, at the end of a particularly long day that had started the day before, we were all noting what projects had been reviewed and by whom.

I had a reputation for solving problems others couldn’t, and my supervisor found it amusing to work Spongebob Squarepants references into work, so I quickly became ‘Plankton’ and then later ‘the evil genius,’ again in reference to the character.

On that day, probably due to lack of sleep, I thought it would be funny to sign all of my projects with ‘EG.’

My supervisor loved it.

She started introducing me to others within the company as ‘The EG.’

It stuck.

I wasn’t just known within my company as that. When I took a new job, at a new company, several states away, it followed me. Even some of our government auditors know me as ‘The EG.’

At that point, I decided I may as well use it. I used it on sites where I may not want to use my real name, but I didn’t mind if those that I knew closely enough to know my nickname would realize it was me. Later, I realized it was a part of my identity.

So, I am The Evil Genius.