That simply shows that they don't know SQL. There's no particular trick to it. 
select FName, LName, MName, Surname
from TABLE
order by substring(MName,1,1),
         substring(FName,2,1),
         substring(LName,datalength(LName),1)

[download]
This is with MS SQL. It should work on other SQL servers, though the functions may be different...

...roboticus

In reply to Re: sorta sorting fun by roboticus
in thread sorta sorting fun by softworkz

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