# How do you & your co-workers address one another? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348 "2013-04-10T19:29:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/1 "2013-04-10T19:29:03Z")
Suggested by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=687701) in Cafe Society. At your workplace, are you on a first-name basis with your peers, superiors, & subordinates alike? Last-name basis? Honorific-plus-last name? Poll in a moment. ETA: On the other hand, screw the poll. I’ve got actual work to do and there’s too many possible options. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/2 "2013-04-10T19:36:29Z")
First names and nicknames for everyone, which gets kind of confusing because we have three Erics, two of which have the same last initial. My proposal that we not hire anyone with the same name has been shot down. My boss was upset when I tried to call him Mr. [name]. I feel like if they’re old enough to be my parent, they should get Mr./Ms. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/3 "2013-04-10T19:37:25Z")
First name only. We have a Bryan and a Brian, but instead of using last names, we specify Bryan-with-a-Y or Brian-with-an-I. We also specify which Bob we mean by referring to his role, not his surname. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/4 "2013-04-10T19:39:44Z")
First-name basis with managers 1-2 levels above me. I don’t recall ever being compelled to address anyone higher than that by name (first or last), but if the need arose, I would probably not feel comfortable going with their first name unless specifically requested. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/5 "2013-04-10T19:40:17Z")
I work in a small satellite office of a mid-cap public company. First names exclusively here, and also with our next-level-up bosses in the home office. Near as I can tell, however, the first-name-only thing is company-wide. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/6 "2013-04-10T19:42:58Z")
First names here and in my last three previous jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/7 "2013-04-10T19:48:50Z")
I’m in Silicon Valley, so first names only. Never met our current CEO, but I have met our former billionaire CEO and first name there also. He did on-line radio show which involved him walking on on people, (supposedly spontaneously) and those conversations were first name also, so it was officially endorsed. Pretty universal here. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/8 "2013-04-10T19:48:51Z")
I work in a Fortune 500 company with 20,000 employees. It’s first names from top to bottom here, with a minor exception on my team of ten people. We have three Mikes and two Steves. These are referred to by their last names but addressed directly by their first names. My first job when I quit college in 1973 was driving a truck for a company owned by a friend of my father’s. It felt really weird to call him by his first name, but he insisted on it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/9 "2013-04-10T19:51:27Z")
Firstname or nickname; the nickname can be the lastname or based on it. One of my coworkers was introduced to me as “John” and looked vaguely familiar - when I heard someone say his lastname, I smacked myself so hard I went “ow”. College classmate, hadn’t seen each other in 20 years, and back then we already knew him by lastname - and at least he was a John and not a George (We had 6 of those)! Even his closest coworker calls him by lastname or half-lastname; I wouldn’t be surprised to find out his wife does. My brothers are known collectively in our hometown as “the Smiths” (real lastname definitely not Smith); individually, as “older Smith” and “younger Smith”. One of them is now working in another town and has as his subordinates two brothers who have matching nicks. When someone phones asking for “Smith”, it takes a while to find out which one - a clarification of “the older Smith” isn’t very helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/10 "2013-04-10T19:51:30Z")
The members of management are Miss or Mr. Lastname. (I’ll sometimes hear Mrs. Lastname, but more commonly not). The peons are all first name. Persons from outside our store who are slightly higher than peons are generally called by first names. Persons from outside our store who are more than slightly higher than peons are called a variety of things. ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/11 "2013-04-10T19:54:38Z")
First name. Occasionally a nickname. I did have one job in a grocery store, where we had to call the owner “Mr. (lastname)”. Worst boss I ever had, incidentally. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/12 "2013-04-10T20:01:23Z")
In 6 jobs over 23 years I’ve called everybody–peers, bosses, subordinates–by their first names except: [ul] [li] One manager I had who was an older guy that for reasons I never understood was called “Mr. Smith” by everyone in an organization where first names were otherwise the norm.[/li][li]Senior executives that I did not know but met under formal circumstances. Although I addressed by first name a Division president I had just met a couple of times (big company, 90K employees, so the hierarchy there was more formal than small companies).[/li][/ul] I think “Miss Jones, take a letter please.” “Yes Mr. Smith” is right out of 1959. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/13 "2013-04-10T20:07:05Z")
Everyone, up to the CEO, by first name. This is a small-ish company of maybe 500-600 people. Exception: there is one very nice young lady who insists on calling me (and other older men) by Mr. I have expressed that I would be pleased if she would use my first name like everyone else, but she says that this is the way she was raised and she isn’t interested in changing. I assume she shows the same respect to older women, but I haven’t heard it in practice (she works in another office so I don’t see many of her interactions). Roddy (not Mr. Femm) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/14 "2013-04-10T20:11:12Z")
I work in a hospital, so doctors are “Dr. Lastname” unless I know them well, then it’s by their first name, and everyone else is by the first name. (Behind their backs, we often/sometimes refer to the doctors by their last name alone.) ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/15 "2013-04-10T20:15:27Z")
Usually I’m just all, “S’up, bitch? Where my fuckin’ paycheck at?” and then I walk into a wall because I’m totally drunk. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/16 "2013-04-10T20:18:44Z")
By first names. And using “tu” instead of “vous.” ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/17 "2013-04-10T20:36:14Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > (Behind their backs, we often/sometimes refer to the doctors by their last name alone.) Oooh…how scandalous! ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/18 "2013-04-10T20:47:51Z")
25K employees in my company, and everyone has always been first-name only basis. In video conferences with the home office they introduce the president as “George”, and people in our office refer to him as that. Sometimes the guys will call each other by their surnames, but it’s more of a jokey team-name thing. StG ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/19 "2013-04-10T21:06:31Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I work in a hospital, so doctors are “Dr. Lastname” unless I know them well, then it’s by their first name, and everyone else is by the first name. (Behind their backs, we often/sometimes refer to the doctors by their last name alone.) I also work in a hospital. I address most other residents by first name but a few by last name. Attendings from other services are Dr. Lastname. Attendings on my service I use a mix of first name, last name and Dr. Lastname depending on the attending. When talking about an attending we often use last name alone. I address nurses and techs by first name or their chosen diminutive with a couple of exceptions for older women who go by Ms. Lastname. I answer to first name, a diminutive of my first name, Dr. Firstname, Dr. Lastname and “Doc”. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348/20 "2013-04-10T21:16:27Z")
Firstnames, except for folks in Japan who get Name-san [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-your-co-workers-address-one-another/655348.md?page=2)