Data (Table) Structure Question

i hope everyone's thanksgiving was grand.

i have contacts, customers and employees that i want
to manage in a db application.

i can think of two ways to do this.

first, have a table for each and fill each with all
the relevant data:

1. t_custoemrs
2. t_employees
3. t_contacts

second, have a contacts table that records data that
is repeated throughout each table (ie, name, address,
phone, etc...)

i could then have a t_employees table with a foreign
key to the t_contacts table id. this table would only
have employee related information and would link back
to contacts.

t_customers would do the same - list only customer
specific information.

i think the latter way is the way to go, but i'm not
sure. i don't particularly like t_contacts as the
name of the general table. maybe i need to name it
persons.

anyway, i'd value the input of some more experienced
developers.

tia,

oe1

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