I'm not your F**king Mommy!

[AccountingDrone]

Another person who lived in the south and got accustomed to Honey, Darlin', Dear/Dearie ... at my favorite Halal market they call me Aunti-Ji. Hell, you should hear what my EVE Online corpies call each other [and c*nt, or tw*t are not uncommon], as long as it isn't really meant to affront, I really don't mind what someone calls me.

[RealUnimportant]

I'm with Deserted, at least in a work environment. Unless we've become chat buddies, I dislike being called by my first name whether it's a customer or a server.

[scruff]

I call my colleagues "petal".
Partly it's a side effect of working in Yorkshire years ago, where it was acceptable for men to call each other "love" etc, and partly as a test to see if they are actually listening to what I say (I work with macho builders). If they're listening, they laugh.
But yes, make it clear what you want to be called, and ignore anything else (outside of an emergency).

[Deserted]

Our ID badges don't even have our last names on them, and I'm fine with that. You get my first name because that's what the company puts on my badge, and thank gord for that, because there is literally nobody else in the world with the exact combination and spelling of my first + last name, so any googling of my name quickly divulges personal info... like my home address...

(Now that I think about it, it would probably be even more awkward if a passenger addressed me as "Mr. 1204xxx" (my ID number). I doubt I could keep a straight face if that happened...)

[Minflick]

I'm not sure I've ever called a cab driver anything but sir... Thinking HARD here, because it's years since I've taken one somewhere. Yup, Sir it is.

[Rebel1012]

Start calling them "shrimpy"

[Kit-Ginevra]

I call my colleagues "petal".
Partly it's a side effect of working in Yorkshire years ago, where it was acceptable for men to call each other "love" etc, and partly as a test to see if they are actually listening to what I say (I work with macho builders). If they're listening, they laugh.
But yes, make it clear what you want to be called, and ignore anything else (outside of an emergency).

Try working on Merseyside-seeing the look on non-Scousers'faces when they are greeted with 'wotcher,cock?' is quite entertaining...

[greek_jester]

To be honest, after living a half-hour's train journey from London for most of my life I tune out things like love, ducks, mate, etc. unless it's said in a tone of voice that makes it obvious it's derogatory or belittling e.g. a guy talking about a bird he met that he's going to ask on a date is fine, a guy talking about what he wants to do to a random bird he walked past is not.

Try working on Merseyside-seeing the look on non-Scousers'faces when they are greeted with 'wotcher,cock?' is quite entertaining...

Reminds me of when I used to gossip with the daughter of the Chinese take-away around the corner from us. We'd been going to the same one since I was a toddler, and the daughter was about my age, so we often chatted. Her parents, however, were Chinese immigrants, and occasionally we'd catch a look on their face as if to say "what the heck are they even saying?" when we were nattering away in local slang terms. Their English was excellent, just very "proper" rather than colloquial.

[protege]

Any other names that they insist on calling you by is not only insulting but it can create a hostile working environment. Inform management.

Usually, the phrase "hostile working environment" is enough to get management's attention pretty damn quick. Still though, document everything if you choose to go to HR.

[Dreamstalker]

Our ID badges have full names; only managers actually have to wear them visible though.

I have three nicknames people use; one translates pretty easily to my real name, one not at all, and the third has a nickname itself which can get fun. So far, no customers have figured out my real name.

[workerbee222]

My sister refused to respond to professors who didn't pronounce her name correctly, just pretended someone else was going to answer.

[HotelMinion]

Oh well I guess I won't make a big deal about it. Most likely they don't know I find it weird and are trying to be friendly since they don't know my name. (even though I have a name badge...) I'm leaving anyway for another job closer by so I won't make amajor "mama drama" about it *rimshot* =P

I have the exact opposite problem. I really don't want customers I've literally just met calling me by name -- call it a mental tic, but the only info they get from me is my first name (and driver ID number), and I really don't like some person I don't know calling me by my first name. Hopefully the new job doesn't call me that.... >___>

It's pretty common to call the guy in the front seat "driver" or "cabbie" -- hell, I'll even respond to "hey, you" if I know it's directed at me -- but fer feck's sake, don't say, "Hey Deserted, we're going to..." unless you actually know me.

Yeah I dislike customers calling me by my first name too (usually old men do it) but it's better than them snapping their fingers and saying "hey you!" like I'm a personal slave...ugh that really gets my goat. When taking a cab I always say "excuse me, can you take me to [address]?" and make eye contact thru the rearview mirror so he doesn't think I'm talking on my phone or something.

[Deserted]

Yeah I dislike customers calling me by my first name too (usually old men do it) but it's better than them snapping their fingers and saying "hey you!" like I'm a personal slave...ugh that really gets my goat.

"Yes sir, the meter starts at $100."

[Dreamstalker]

Some SCs will get my gender wrong about 1/3 of the time ...while it never really bothered me anyway that's a completely valid excuse for ignoring them.

[Jay 2K Winger]

"Yes sir, the meter starts at $100."

That's right up there with my old comment, "Bribes start at $200 and go up from there."