Was she implying that we looked old enough to be retired, or that we just looked prosperous enough not to have to work full time? Since it's a resort town and lots of people are vacationing now, it's not unusual for someone to be off on a weekday. At one point she asked, "So sir, are you semi-retired?"Īs we discussed later, that one really threw us. We offered abbreviated answers to queries about where we worked and what positions we held, hoping she'd get the idea that we didn't want to be talking about those things to someone we didn't know in a public place. I was taken aback at the personal questions she was posing to us while we were studying the menu. She was probably mid-40's, we are 53 & 54. We arrived at the brkf/lunch cafe during a lull and the owner came to our table and began chatting w/ us. He felt like going out for breakfast so we left our lake and drove to the nearest town which blossoms into a resort village in the summer months, catering to a lot of well-to-do folks who own places on the "Big Lake." was DH's BD & he took a vacation day from work. While I'm not overly PC, I try to be aware of how I address people and have to admit that I flinch, though try to let it roll off me, when people address me in a way that feels too familiar or condescending. In any case, good luck with your experiment, let us know if there is any reaction from the sandwich guy or whoever next calls you Young Lady! That's just me!īack to the original question, I like (instead of "I'm neither young, nor a lady."), put on the heavy NY accent and say, Neither Young Nor Lady, Discuss! So I guess I'm more affected by what people I actually have some kind of relationship might say (as in people in my office) as opposed to random cashiers or cafeteria workers. Now she goes back & forth between Miss May and Ms. I asked her just call me May, and she converted to Miss May. We're all adults and all colleagues, no matter what our position and therefore no one should be putting themselves in a place of being below others. That's why it bugs me that she calls everyone Ms. Everyone from Prez on down calls each other by their first name. It happens that the Prez of the company also works in this office. I work in an office of about 100 people, in a company that employs hundreds across the globe. Especially because she is in the position she is in, it feels like she is being obsequious.
Our office mail distributor, she is sort of the lowest person on the totem pole, calls me Ms. I'm with Sally in that I hate being called "Miss May". However, I completely understand your feelings. I see it as a sort of memorized automaton phrase that they just repeat all day. I pretty much don't give a second thought to what cashiers and such say to me. But I see it in the same category as the mindless "Have a nice day" type of greeting. Maybe if she calls me that again time I'll educate her. (fill in last name) or just Sally, that I've been married over 32 years and haven't been a "Miss" for a very long time. I've ignored it so far, but I think I really want to tell her to either call me Mrs.
I figure it's the preschool syndrome, as that's how preschoolers are taught to address their teachers, for some ridiculous reason. This very young, probably early 20's receptionist calls me "Miss Sally". This is a new dentist to me, as the dentist I've gone to for years has retired, so there's some getting acquainted going on. Then there's the receptionist at the dentist's office. I've been tempted to call him "little man." (He's kind of on the crazy side, though, and is mad at me for an imagined reason, so I doubt he'll be calling me anything but the "b" word from now on, if he talks to me at all. One of my neighbors calls me "Little Lady." In the 29 years we've lived kitty corner from him, he's never called me by my name. I would assume that the people are just in the habit of saying things like that to people, trying to be casually friendly and a bit funny.
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