Scatterbrained waiter

[MaggieTheCat]

Miss doesn't work for me because I'm married.

Mrs. doesn't work for me because I didn't take my husband's last name.

I prefer Ms. above all of the others. A good friend of mine is in the same boat as me; she's married, but she kept her last name instead of taking her husband's name. She's also a teacher, and she always explains her proper name to her students like this:

"I am not Miss (Name) because I am married. I am not Mrs. (Name) because while I am married, I am NOT married to my father or my brothers. Therefore, please call me Ms. (Name.)"

[Kogarashi]

When cashiering, I just fall back on "Sir" for men and "Ma'am" for women (said as one syllable). No one's corrected me or gotten offended yet, thank goodness. I suspect tone has as much to do with it as anything else, since I always try to be unfailingly polite and friendly while using those terms.

[LillFilly]

I go for miss for teenagers/young women and ma'am for all others. I don't mind being called ma'am because that's what one would be called in the military anyway; works for me, though sometimes, I do feel kinda old...

[Seshat]

I learned much the same as you, Misanthropical, except for Ms.

Ms any adult woman: equivalent to Mr.

Mr any adult man: equivalent to Ms.

Sir as a courtesy title to address a man without using his given or family name.

Ma'am as a courtesy title to address a woman without using her given or family name.

[dalesys]

Gedoffamalawn: for every non-adult?

[Ben_Who]

When my father was editor of a trade magazine, he got a letter from a trade show participant who owned a business and had gone to the show with one of her salesmen.

Every single trade show booth operator - Every. Single. One. - addressed the man first and ignored the woman. The woman was the one with all the knowhow, all the contacts, all the clout, all the MONEY - and sometimes the trade show booth operator would even know that - and still address the man. Force of habit, maybe?

When my father got this letter, the first thing he did was call all his employees, male and female, into the conference room, showed them all the letter, and asked the women he worked with if they experienced anything similar. The following month's issue of the magazine was VERY lively on the subject of women in business and making stupid snap assumptions, especially when those assumptions cost you a sale...

Love, Who?

[Misanthropical]

I buy my perfume in Macy's and have stood there while the sales ladies ignored me. The longest was 15 minutes of me standing at the counter watching the sales ladies ignore me. They would stop every few minutes to see if I left yet and seeing as I was still there went back to ignoring me.

When Mr. Mis walked in, they couldn't wait on him fast enough.

When we were looking for a new place, we went to look one place. As soon as we got there the rent went up in price and the man showing us the house would not look at me the whole time. All my questions were answered to Mr. Mis. When we got in the car to leave, Mr. Mis looks at me and says "I already know your answer on this place". The answer was not no, but HELL NO! I'm the one who deals with the landlord no matter where we move to and I knew that man would piss me the hell off the first time I called about something.

When we went to buy my car, the salesman ignored me and started answering my questions to Mr. Mis just like the house guy. Mr. Mis tells him the decision on what car to buy is totally up to me and if he wanted to save the sale he best be talking to the right person. Mr. Mis told him I was already pissed off, so he doesn't know if there will even be a sale. All of a sudden the salesman has the exact car I want for the price I want. Yes, he got the sale. Yes, I talked to his boss.

I know I look young and stupid and probably look like I can't afford what I want to buy, but I'm 39 years old and I'm far from stupid and if I couldn't afford what I am there to buy I wouldn't be there in the first place.

[ApolloSZ]

I buy my perfume in Macy's and have stood there while the sales ladies ignored me. The longest was 15 minutes of me standing at the counter watching the sales ladies ignore me. They would stop every few minutes to see if I left yet and seeing as I was still there went back to ignoring me.

When Mr. Mis walked in, they couldn't wait on him fast enough.

See that I don't understand, even with the fatally flawed mentality of "Ug man have money, man spend lots." the shop workers seemed to have, wouldn't you think a women would be the more common customer for Perfume, who'd know what she wants?! (Yes I know, there are men out there who know perfume etc, but still)

Oh wait... Im using my smarts.....

[Andara Bledin]

I avoid the whole Ms/Mrs/Miss thing by not using any of them. I don't use any form of address if it's at all possible. Because, if you're not careful, you'll get "wonderwoman" on the phone and call her "sir" because she still sounds just like she did when she was still a man.

^-.-^