Familiarity Breeds Nicknames

We had a discussion front of house this morning. It was started by Cappuccino man. His name is Bob. I have known his name is Bob for some time, and he visits us at least once a day, with his wife- Jacquie- and their two huge Irish Wolfhounds -Kerry and Marnie. They have been stopping for drinks and toast every morning for the last five years. I however cannot think of him as Bob. He is Cappuccino man. They used to be "The Cappucino People", but Jacquie now drinks filter coffee. We have always made up names for people, some not as obvious as simply what they drink. We have Rockmancake. Don't ask. We have Nice hand man, Apricot jam man, Crazy Lady, Birthday Lady, Crazy Cake Lady, Takeaway man- who now signs his christmas cards to us with this alias rather than Roy- and The Cat in the Hat.
We are also more likley to know the dogs names, than the owners names. We still refer to "Storms owner" even though we know it is their sons dog and we know they are called Jacquie and Ivor. "Stitch man" is actually Gordon, another father taking his sons dog out, but if I refer to him as Gordon to my staff, they would give me a blank look.
It is a strange phenomonon, but it must happen everywhere. It is the distinguishing feature, although we sell hundreds of Cappucinos throughout the day we know who we mean.
I asked Cappuccino man if he had names for us, the new members of staff that they haven't got to know yet, but he commented with a wry smile "you wouldn't serve me again if I told you".
I know some customers do have names for us- the smiley one, the bright one, the one with the dreadlocks, the other one with the dreadlocks, the little one and the one with The Hair. The one with the hair was a waitress who had a different style and colour for every week, indeed some customers came in and their first question was "what colour is it today?"
Within the staff we have changed peoples names around. It started by reversing first names. Jodie Became Eidoj, but is now Dojie, and Gemma became Ammeg. In her case this then became Ammeg and Chips, and sometimes shortened to Andchips. Bizarrely she answers even to that!Jamie became Majie, and we have had Shakey, Browney,Greeny and Jimbob Squarepants.
We are a simple people, but we are a happy people.