Yesterday, I was sitting in a restaurant waiting for my son to meet me. Sylvia had a meeting of mentors for students in a nearby school. I had driven past my son’s business, but didn’t see his auto there. For that reason, I was surprised when I didn’t see his car in the parking lot. Fifteen minutes later, I ordered a cup of coffee. Fifteen minutes after that, I ordered lunch.
While I was waiting for my son, he was two miles away, waiting for me to show at a different restaurant. He called the house to see if I had forgotten him. I had forgotten to tell Sylvia where I thought we were meeting. She answered the phone and could provide no information beyond, “He’s not here.”
To protect the guilty, I’ll provide no further info here. 😳 Hey look a squirrel. 😀
The waitress was a gal I’ve seen many times before. I’ve given her the secret nickname “Sheor.” It has more to do with her voice than anything else. She is a pleasant person and goes about her work as you’d want a waitress to do.
Several times she referred to me as, “my dear.” Frankly, I don’t like that. Call it a pet peeve if you want. If we were fellow workers, that kind of talk could be deemed sexual harassment. It wasn’t meant that way, and it wasn’t taken that way. Nevertheless, I don’t care for that kind of familiarity in that situation.
Does that ever happen to you? What, if anything, do you do about it?
I never faced this issue before.
The waitresses in Malaysia always greet customer as “Boss”.
I think that you are fortunate. Our culture here in the USA, has become one of more and more familiarity. I fear that as familiarity has increased, respect has decreased. :2c:
I’m okay with it if it is a woman, but if a man calls me that….look out! It can be endearing if it is done the right way, but it can come off too familiar or condescending if you aren’t careful.
Great point Lin. If that happened in the office where you work, you’d have grounds for a sexual harassment complaint. :nono: While I suspect that language is used like this to improve a connection, it doesn’t always work. 🙁
Ugh, ‘hon’ is the one that drives me crazy, but I don’t do or say anything about it, except when I can be anonymous (grouching about it) in someone else’s blog. 😆
That’s why I wrote this post. To give you [and me] a place to vent on this annoying topic. :rant:
You have no idea how much I hate being called “dear,” “honey,” etc. I have been known to say things like “I’m not your honey,” but usually I manage to grit my teeth and shut up. It never gets the user brownie points.
You are right, I don’t know now much you hate that. :dunce: But I’m not surprised that you feel that way. :oh:
A young waitress called me “hun” today and I am only one person’s hun! It grates me but it is probably ruder to point out someone else’s rudeness so I didn’t say anything.
If the person is older than you, it is usually safe to go with Ma’am or Sir.
Richard Petty is said to have said, “When you’re driving around the track at 200 mph, you want the guys who are working on the car to like you.” The same wisdom must surely apply to wait staff as well. 🙂 Sir or ma’am should work just fine, which brings up the question of why do you have to call your physician “Doctor,” but you get called by your first name? :think:
You, Sir, are correct!
Must be something in the water. Or perhaps the air. We do share that in common, don’t we neighbor? :think: