Women. If you answer the phone at work...Do you hate it when...?

Question

total stangers...men or women.....call you SWEETIE, HONEY, DEAR ETC. I think it is totally disrespectful & annoys the SUGAR out of me. Am I the only one? Should I say something to them & what would you say.
Granted I don't mind it if it is someone that I know.

I work for the Court. People call to get ticket amounts etc. You would think people would have some manners.

I understand elderly people doing it but not anyone under 70.

Ma'am or Sir should be the only thing when calling some office.

Answer 1

Yes, it annoys when strangers call me "love", "honey", "sweetie" or "my [...]". I think this is something that people should not say to strangers or people they know very little, it's only ok if you know the person well.

I don't usually say anything though, unless they are being very rude to me and yet call me "sweetie" or something in a patronizing way. Then I explain to them that I'm not their sweetie and that they should learn some manners and common courtesy (I don't say that to customers though, just to other strangers). But most of the time I just get slightly annoyed but try to ignore it. It depends a lot on the tone they use too, some of them are only trying to be nice I guess, but some can be very annoying with this.

Answer 2

I am in the rural south and answer the phones as well,. Unfortunatley, I am one of those people that call everyone sweetie or honey. I don't know how i developed the habit, but i certainly don't mean to offend anyone with it. And i am sure no one means to offend you either. But look at it this way, they could be calling you a lot of other not so nice things.

Answer 3

I live in the South too. Everyone does it down here. If they don't know your name, you are either ma'am or sweetie (female) or buddy (male). I suppose they could be calling you nasty things. The recordings irritate me. BTW--- on the recordings, if you hit 3 as soon as you find out it is a recording, most of the time it takes you off the list. Just recently found out, hope it helps someone else.

Answer 4

i actually prefer "sweetie" to maam or miss, etc... when i was working in an office i talked to a lot of people who were just on "automatic pilot" and would respond to me with standard empty meaningless neutral phrases (like "take care maam", etc...). Those were the words that actually offended me because it told me that the person didn't put an ounce of thought into their conversation with me, i was basically speaking to an automaton. On the other hand, the people who say "sweetie", etc, are actually making the conversation more personal and less formal - and I appreciate that. It adds some emotion to the conversation and moves it from empty robot to human that I can actually connect with. The person using those words is clearly not intending them in a derogatory way, instead they are intending to connect with you. Of course, a preference for "maam" or "sweetie" is meaningless...what we're both really saying is that our ego is offended that the other person did not respect us in the culturally biased way we expect. What we should probably be focusing our attention on is respecting the other person's speach routine. Our routine goes one direction and sometimes other people's routines go in another direction. it happens.

Answer 5

I'm a female and when older females say "honey or sweetie" in a kind tone, I know they are just trying to be nice. So, I don't mind it at.
If used in a rude tone such as "yes...deeeaaar!"
I hate it.
After some of the calls I answer, sweetie, honey, are a NICE change to clipped rude tones :)

Answer 6

I think there's a big difference in HOW people use those words. I think it's pretty clear if someone is trying to be condecending, or if they're using it as sort of a generic term of endearment. It seems like a lot of older people use them.
I think there are A LOT worse things in this world than being called Dear

Answer 7

I have not any difficulty answering telephones yet i hate it whilst i'm back kind artwork and drained so i purely wanna the two sleep or come right here and that i hate to bypass out so because it is the only time i hate answering telephones.

Answer 8

YES! It drives me crazy and I always want to (but don't) say, "I'm not your sweetie!" As a professional person, I don't say anything to them but conduct the conversation like it never happened. Those men are treated in a very business like way and I never joke or kid with them. I suppose that gives them a message of some kind.

Couldn't agree with you more!

Answer 9

Yes, it is very rude! I have an awesome book that talks about how to deal with this in the workplace. It's tougher with strangers calling, but you should firmly correct them and tell them your name. If they say "Hey sweetie, I'm calling about my ticket . . ."
Say something like "My name is Ms. Smith, can I please have your account number?" If they use it again, say "Again, It's Ms. Smith. Please hold while I find that information."

It may be that people are trying to be extra nice because they don't want to get in even more trouble, or piss anyone off at the court, but it's still no excuse.

Answer 10

Unfortunately it is part of the territory. Since you work for the government though I think it wouldn't hurt you because most people who work for the courts, city or state jobs do not have much customer service skills. When you answer the phone try not to sound so precious maybe give yourself a monotone voice...that works for me.