My name is not "yo, buddy!"

[Kitten in the box]

My name is not "Girl" That is what you call your female dog when you want her attention. (excuse: our regular customers that I bullshit with call me that and thats the only exception I make)

Kiddo
Sweetie
Baby
Sugarpie

those are some of the names I DO NOT appreciate being called. By ANYBODY. PERIOD.

[mischugenah]

Now I feel really sucky... I'll admit, if I'm in a store, and I try to get their attention, it's either "excuse me, can you..." or "hey man, can you..." depending on my mood...

Maybe I should stop...

There's nothing wrong with saying "Excuse me, can you...?", and most people don't even mind "Hey, man". From what I can tell, all the names people are refering to as annoying are either a) diminuatives (patronizing) or b) overly familiar (I'm not your 'bro', I've never met you!) "Hey, man" seems pretty neutral to me. Anyone disagree?

[CancelMyService]

I had a older lady call me "honey boy" repeatedly. That was the most uncomfortable conversation I've ever been party to. I know it was just another one of those names older people call anyone younger than them, but as a guy it's the closest I've come to the "older sleazebag hitting on young sales girl" routine. Also there was the whole thing with how do I let her know that her calling me that is creeping me the fuck out without coming off as a jerk?

Still, it was better than the "YOU PEOPLE" I tend to get from assholes who call in.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

"Dude"

"Guy"

"Pal"

"Champ"

"Sport"

"Kid"

"brother"

"bro"

and various other things.

Heh heh m heh heh--I've taken to using those terms and others like them when talking to Numbnuts.

Like for example "Hey Chief! Are you going to get all the pulls done before you leave for once?"

or "Hey there Champ! You going to answer that cashier who's paging you? She's called you 4 times already!"

[bainsidhe]

Hmm, I habitually call female coworkers "dear". Usually in a "Thanks, dear" type of way. I don't mean anything bad by it and it's a tough habit to break. As far as I know, no one's been insulted (I hope not anyway ) I'll have to work harder to break the habit. And yes, I say it to all ages, including women older than me

[Dilorenzo]

What people here seem to be ignoring is that this is perhaps the way these people talk all the time - it strikes me, whenever I hear most of these, that they are trying to be friendly, not insulting.

Aside from the "sweeties" and "dears" and the whistling, a lot of this seems like baseless complaining.

Sorry for being blunt, but that's how I'm reading it.

[mariamousie1]

I just want people to stop calling me ma'am. I'm 25, not 50!
Back in high school people used to call me miss. I liked that.

[Supermarket Slave Girl]

I have a tendency to call people hun or darl, usually with my customers, I don't mean to it just comes out. My family is always very polite to people in the service industry so calling them hun or darl was natural and in no way patronizing.

[blas]

There's a girl at work, bless her heart she is just the sweetest thing since cherry pie....but she is dumb as a box of rocks. She calls everyone, even the older men, "sweetie" and "honey", and she wonders why they won't leave her alone...

[Greenday]

Besides what has been mentioned,

Being called Sir or Mister. Makes me feel old. I'm 20, I don't need to feel old.

But in all seriousness, not too many nicknames bother me. I just don't like when people try to act like they are friends with me when I have never served them before.

[pitbull_juggalette]

ive been called G before i thought it was funny

[AdminAssistant]

When I was in retail, I used "sir" and "ma'am" all the time. Hey, old habits die hard.

Now, I can kinda deal with 'sweetie' or 'honey'. The one that will make me punch you is 'baby'. I don't even let guys I date call me 'baby'. I don't know exactly why, but it bothers the living hell out of me.

[Max]

It's difficult for me to not automatically call customers sir or ma'am (all my customers are of age btw). To me those terms denote professionalism and respect. I've never minded being called ma'am, no matter how young I happened to be at the time, because to my ears it just sounds like the female version of sir (or, as it appears in my head, "Sir!").

But I try my best to avoid them because they drive some people crazy. Women routinely freak out over being called "ma'am".

[MoxisPilot]

Mine:

"Sweetheart"
"Baby"
"Babe"
"Cupcake"
"Darling"
"Dear"
"Gorgeous" (WTF? I'm nearly 200lbs and quite squishy!)
"Honey"
"Sister" (I LOL'd at this one.)
"Dude" (Not on the clock, anyway)
"Yo' " (See above)

Or, strangest of all...

"Sparky".

[AdminAssistant]

Heh, reminds me of this:

"Yes, sir!"
"Don't call me sir."
"Yes, ma'am!"