Don't Call Me Baby

[IlovemyGeek]

Had a gentleman today accidently call me baby (unintentionally I am sure) he then said "I'm sorry Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am" Let me to wonder how many others get dubbed pet names. I felt bad for the guy he was so embarrassed. Also in my book ma'am may be worse then baby LOL. I'm in my twenties ma'am I am not!

[GyroKat]

I think the closest I get is when my siblings accientally call me "Mum"... But then again, I'm almost 10 years older than them, so I was a second mother most of their life

[IlovemyGeek]

When I was in elementary school I once called my teacher Mom by accident.

[Aressel]

I once accidentally addressed a male friend by my sister's name. (And its not like she has one of those unisex names either).

[XCashier]

When I was in elementary school I once called my teacher Mom by accident.

I did the same thing . My teacher, however, did look a lot like my mom. And I learned to quickly amend "mom" to "ma'am".

[myswtghst]

We get pretty friendly with some of our techs, given that we talk to them on an almost daily basis. I've noticed, especially with the Southerners, that they have a tendency to use pet names on the girls. I don't generally mind, unless they're being condescending, but I've been called hon, honey, babe, darlin, sugar and many more I can't think of right now.

[Broomjockey]

My own mother has done the name mix-up thing. While I was growing up, if we were at the grandparents, I would be called by my uncle's name. And she would sometimes call my uncle by my name. Didn't matter if the other person was there or not.

And if I was hanging out with my friend, whose mother has been friends with my mom for decades, she'd call me by HIS name. Basically, she'd call me anything besides my own name. To this day, I'll turn and look if I hear someone calling, no matter what name they shout...

[BlaqueKatt]

one of my co-workers slips and calls me "babe" sometimes-as in "what's wrong babe?" "hey babe can you come here a minute?" and the like. However this coworker is my husband's clone, and has told me several times that he wished I was single because I fit his image of "the perfect woman", he told me he loved me when he was drinking*-I don't mind, I pretend I didn't hear it(my real name is close to Baby)

*not the standard drunken way either-he had one drink and was far from drunk-I played it off, I love my husband sorry

[freaktard]

I do this sometimes with my wife and my sister. They aren't anything alike, but they do have similar sounding names, and once in a while I'll get them mixed up. It's pretty embarassing, but luckily they're pretty cool about it.

[Daphne]

Also in my book ma'am may be worse then baby LOL. I'm in my twenties ma'am I am not!

I get ma'am all of the time, and I'm only 23! I think it's because I'm a librarian.

[Retail Associate]

I remember the first time I was called ma'am. I was 25 and the offending perp was a teenager. Made me feel old before my time. But, I guess ma'am is a lot better than many things I could be called.

I suspect, at my age, I will never be referred to as 'Baby' again.

[Hempress]

I had a teenager call me ma'am the other day and I'm only 23.

[Geek King]

Wait a second. When did Ma'am start to apply to only older ladies? I use ma'am as polite address to any female that is not obviously a little girl. I learned that form of address from my youth watching Westerns, and they used it talking to the pretty women in those movies. I've always thought it was a perfectly getlemanly form of address (I even nod and touch my brow when saying it, most times!), so please don't take offense if I use it.

So I have to ask, if ma'am is not acceptable, what would be an acceptable form of address for someone who doesn't know your name?

[altered_reality]

Well her specific words were "my darling" yeh, that creeped me out

[Rapscallion]

So I have to ask, if ma'am is not acceptable, what would be an acceptable form of address for someone who doesn't know your name?

It varies from person to person. I'm thinking about a generic form to hand out to everyone I'm introduced to with an explanation that there are so many ways considered acceptable by so many people, that it's beholden upon me to find out what they consider acceptable. After that, I'd write what they want on a sticker and place it on their lapel.

Of course, I'm innovative like that.

Rapscallion