'You are brainwashed, they have brainwashed you."

[Bright_Star]

Calling a guy "sir" or calling a woman "ma'am" is a sign of respect. That's a lot better than saying.."hey you! Whatcha want?"

[Elandora]

people e_e;;

Once I had a customer that refused to be called Sir, so I told him since I didn't know his name I'd call him Steve. He said he didn't like being called 'Steve' because he had a friend named that who had died. He quickly turned down 'Human', and said how would I know if he was human or not? I ended up calling him 'Multi-cellular organism' because he could not contradict that no matter what he did. He thought it was funny I guess and came back a lot after that XD

Usually if I get a remark turning down a polite title, it's usually a woman who doesn't like being called 'Ma'am' because it makes her feel old.

Traditionally I suppose 'Miss' is used for young, unmarried women, and 'Ma'am' is more commonly used with women old enough to have been married for a while.

[Sheldonrs]

Perhaps "he" was a transexual.

[Flood]

There's a type of Enlisted or formerly Enlisted person who feel particular disdain for Officers in the military. In the US Military, it is required by law that all Enlisted people call all officers Sir/Ma'am, regardless of rank, and you can get in trouble for calling another Enlisted person Sir or Ma'am, regardless of rank. This tends to lead to resentment as men in their 40's are being forced to call kids fresh out of college "Sir".

Their typical response to being called "Sir" is "Don't call me Sir! I work for a living!"

About half of them say it as a joke. The rest of them get angry and are just douchebags.

[Imogene]

people e_e;;

Once I had a customer that refused to be called Sir, so I told him since I didn't know his name I'd call him Steve. He said he didn't like being called 'Steve' because he had a friend named that who had died. He quickly turned down 'Human', and said how would I know if he was human or not? I ended up calling him 'Multi-cellular organism' because he could not contradict that no matter what he did. He thought it was funny I guess and came back a lot after that XD

I hate being called by any gender... How do you know I'm feeling masculine today? How do you know I'm not feeling female? You've just ruined my day if I have been.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

I hate being called by any gender... How do you know I'm feeling masculine today? How do you know I'm not feeling female? You've just ruined my day if I have been.

Blame the Vikings. I think it's their fault that the English language lost its gender neutral language. I know that they're responsible for the overall lack of gender & number indicators on verbs in the English language; so let's blame them for no gender-neutral title of respect.

[Broomjockey]

I hate being called by any gender...

This is a general response to anyone who doesn't like being called something like "sir" or "ma'am", Juwl's was just closest.

Save everyone time and trouble.

Wear. A. Nametag. One of those ones you just stick on and write with a marker on. That way you can change it at will, and people have some way to reference, because I'm sorry, but if you don't gimme a clue as to what to call you, and you protest sir or ma'am, Gods above and below help me, I'm calling you Frank.

[Jadedcarguy]

I had a guy get pissed at me for calling him sir when I was a waiter. His exact words: "My name is ------, you can quit with the 'sir' bullshit."

Right. Can you imagine the suck if we had to ask everyone their name?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

And I hate being called by name by people I don't know.

[retaildrone]

Wear. A. Nametag. One of those ones you just stick on and write with a marker on. That way you can change it at will, and people have some way to reference, .

Like this?http://onemansblog.com/wp-content/up...epareToDie.jpg

[Slytovhand]

"Pardon me, Old Woman."
"Man."
"Sorry. Old Man."
"I'm not old."
"What?"
"I'm thirty-seven; I'm not old!"
"Well I can't just call you man."
"You could try Dennis!"
"I didn't know you were called Dennis."
"Well, you didn't bother to find out, did you?"


yeah... paid :-DDD


I'm one of those who doesn't go down well with the 'sir' thing (unless said person is a moron, in which case, they deserve it :-P). But, I do it in a fairly nice way that indicates "mate - I'm not a 'sir' to you, cos you and I are equals - so please just treat me as a 'person' and not someone who you're supposed to be paid to suck up to.." (btw - I'm in Oz - calling someone 'mate' is perfectly normal!)


Ah - brainwashing... the good old days :-P

[Boozy]

I, for one, would very much like to see "What the hell do you want, Fred?" replace "What can I help you with, Sir?"

[Shards]

I gotta say, I don't like it when people get finicky about me calling them sir or madam. If you don't want to be called sir/madam, then wear a frickin' name tag. We're required to do it, and you still don't call us anything but 'kid' or 'sir', so why hould we all you something more than that without a prior request? Unless you'd like me to call you 'kid'. in which case, I could get used to glaring snobbishly at stupid customers and spewing 'what do you want now, kid?'

[retaildrone]

I, for one, would very much like to see "What the hell do you want, Fred?" replace "What can I help you with, Sir?"

I think that should be the standard greeting!!

[Broomjockey]

And I hate being called by name by people I don't know.

And THAT is why I said those name tags you can write on, so you can be called whatever you want. You don't have to write your name on, do you?