Do I Look Like a Freakin' "Hon" to You??

WTF? Why has it become commonplace, accepted even, for a total stranger to refer to me as "hon" or "sweetie" during the course of a business conversation? The only thing worse on my piss-off-o-meter is to get "no problem hon" (see sdfgarcia: The problem with "no problem").....

Is it that we've dumbed down our kids so much that they don't see anything wrong with addressing a stranger as hon?

I'm a grown up. I went to college, graduated, and paid off every cent of student loans. I have a job. I have a family. I own a home. More important, I'm YOUR CUSTOMER. You know, the lifeblood of your business? The person who directly impacts your bottom line? If the first part of this paragraph isn't enough to convince you that I'm not a "hon" then the last part should.

Calling me hon is patronizing and disrespectful. If I'm important enough to be shopping with you, buying coffee from you, or depositing my money in your financial institution, I would think that you would be smart enough not to refer to me like I'm your three year old niece.

As far as I'm concerned, NO ONE should call me hon or sweeetie, including MrG and I've been sleeping with him for 14 years!

If you're in service or sales, and who really isn't to one degree or another these days, PLEASE find some other filler for your conversations - how about miss, or ma'am, or Mrs. Garcia, or Stephanie?? For the Love of Pete (whoever the hell Pete really is), please please please drop the hon!!