Strangers calling you "Sweetie", etc

[AdminAssistant]

All I have to say is never go down South. Where everybody knows your name, and that name is "hon." I still say things like that sometimes, just out of habit. And I will use sir and ma'am as a matter of respect.

[LadyBarbossa]

I'm not sure why older folks get a pass on it, but for some reason it just doesn't bother me when they do it. I'm young enough to be their child/grandchild, so I'm fairly comfortable if they want to call me a pet name. But when it's some 17 year old bimbo with slut short-shorts and a belly ring, looking down their nose at me like I'm an idiot and handing me a $20, I'm going to get irked.

We have a manager at work who frequently calls everyone "Sugar" or "Hon". A coworker of mine who works with her frequently has to bite his tongue every time because he feels he's being patronized, but as she calls everyone these pet names, he doesn't get terribly annoyed.

And don't even get me started on the creeps. We had a day labor crew who would come in and help us remodel, and heaven help me a guy I was partnered with for a while gave the entire remodel crew the creeps. I'd walk in in the mornings and he'd say "Good morning, Gorgeous!" or "Ah, it's the signage messiah". WTF. The store planning lead we were working with finally gave him a different assignment because he wouldn't quit staring at either of us, along with any female employee/customer within seeing range, regardless of age or weight. *shudder*

[Hobbs]

Devil's advocate here.

What would people like to be called? People don't like to be called Sir unless they are a higher ranking serviceman (and even some of the Non-Coms kvetch about it). Ma'am is disliked since it makes some people feel old, Miss makes people feel too young, last names are impersonal...
What is left?

For me it's "Sir" or "Ma'am." With NCO's "Sir/Ma'am" is also acceptable, but it's preferable to say, "Sgt. LastName." or simply, "Tech/Staff/Master Sgt."

[Lace Neil Singer]

All I have to say is never go down South. Where everybody knows your name, and that name is "hon." I still say things like that sometimes, just out of habit. And I will use sir and ma'am as a matter of respect.

Or Yorkshire, England; a lot of people there will call you "duck" or "pet"; it's just what they do and if you take offence, perhaps you need to take a good hard look at yourself.

[AdminAssistant]

Or Yorkshire, England;

LOL, I had a student from Yorkshire last semester. However, I might have been a little concerned if a student called me "pet."

[Rapscallion]

'Pet' is more Geordie. Duck is more Lancastrian.

Rapscallion

[HYHYBT]

*hides*

I'm one of those people. The reason I say those names is because my mom did it all the time, especially for her daycare job, so I picked it up, and it has been a habit ever since.

Sorry, I didn't mean that there's anything *wrong* with using someone's name!

All I have to say is never go down South. Where everybody knows your name, and that name is "hon."

Funny, I don't know anyone who says 'hon' and have always thought of it as more of a west/southwest sort of thing.

As for taking offense at that sort of name, it really depends on how it's said.

[McDreidel09]

Sorry, I didn't mean that there's anything *wrong* with using someone's name!

I was talking about names like Hun, sweetheart, honey, etc.

They called them those names to boost their self esteem or something like that.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

For me it's "Sir" or "Ma'am." With NCO's "Sir/Ma'am" is also acceptable, but it's preferable to say, "Sgt. LastName." or simply, "Tech/Staff/Master Sgt."

Yeah, but how many people in the military report that when they "Sir" a SGT, the SGT tells them "Sir? Do I look like an officer?" and depending on the mood, a nice rant wherein the trainee gets dressed down.

But that aside, the Military has the massive advantage of being an environment where there are clearly defined titles for use by everyone in the military. As you said, the Non-Coms can be addressed as "sir" or at the least by [rank] [lastname].

The civilian world doesn't have that. We seem to have a world where there is no clearly defined titles or honorifics to use to talk to people who are not friends. At least nothing that is consistent across the board. I go to a supermarket and I can call one cashier "Gina" yet calling another cashier "Fran" annoys them since I'm not on a first name basis with them. This is just onoe of many examples I could use, but you get the idea. I can take a group of 30 people in the same profession and will have 33 honorifics that any one of them will be acceptable to some, yet offensive to the rest.

Again I ask...What is left? What happened to the good old days when you could simply say "Excuse me sir, where can I find the Sporting Goods Department?" without fear of getting teeth gnashed at you. How much longer will it be before political correctness rears it's ugly head and we have to start using honorifics that require a 5 word minimum?

[Red Panda]

I disagree that old people get a pass because of generational differences. Thats the kind of thinking that lets old people say really racist things in public. People need to adapt to the times

[jackfaire]

It bothers me when customers use pet names because most of the ones that do are trying to "get a little somethin somethin" they use it to imply a familiarity like we are close and I should bend the rules for them on that basis.


EDIT:

Disclaimer my company is entirely local and pet names are not common here.

[Kimmik]

Being from the south.. Hun, sweets, sugar, and so on are sort of ingrained in my brain. It gets worse if I have been dealing with people from the south or talking to my over seas friends. Some where I picked up love... really lost on that one.

[tropicsgoddess]

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE when strangers call me Hun, Honey, Sweetheart and Sweetie. It's so condescending and just plain UGH!!!