First names all the way to the top. My boss, the VP, recently made a change that he knew I would not appreciate, and I’ve addressed him as “Sorry Motherfucker” several times over it. But it’s cool, he knew that’d be my reaction. I don’t address the President as anything but his first name.
First names top to bottom.
The only time it’s ever been anything else at a workplace for me was when I ran the front office for my sister-in-law, a dentist. I always called her and referred to her as Dr. Lastname in front of patients and other employees. Anytime it was just the two of us in the office, though, I reverted to her first name.
I’d use first names if I remembered them, but I’m really good at forgetting names and it’s not like people repeat them a lot. With one of my co-workers it started to irk me enough that I took a look at his work papers that had his name. His wife who is also my co-worker has almost the same name as he does, so that’s easy to remember. I have no idea what the Pakistani guy who works in the area next to mine is called though, even if I talk to him basically every week.
If we met in bigger groups it might be different, but when you are just speaking to one person you don’t need their name, at least here in Finland. Do you constantly use the name of the people you are talking to in your speech in US?
First names, with a tiny number of exceptions.
“Cousin” for a Human Resources lady 2000 miles away. We share our first initial and last name and therefore much of our email, and I am forever forwarding things to her. I’ve never met her and we’re not cousins and I suppose it’s probably her married name but don’t know.
“Gorgeous” for the lady with whom I do presentations for our LGBT Employee Resource Group. I think this would be uncomfortable if we were of genders and orientations that would reasonably hook up.
“Pookie” when referring to a coworker’s wife, when I found out that was her nickname.
“Mr. ______”, usually, for the founder and namesake of the company, who I only met a couple times and who has been deceased for decades. Or “your dad” if it’s one of his children I’m talking to.
I need to talk to other people about specific coworkers, so I use those coworkers’ names. I’ll tell our department admin that only one of our techs, Bob, is certified to work on research. I’d tell a doctor that my coworker Sally is the lead coordinator on that study. I’d tell a new resident that I don’t have any access to the information she needs, but that she can go down the hall to the next office and talk to Susan.
First name with everyone.
Except there is one woman we call “Miss (Her Name)” … but we’re in the south so that’s not out of the ordinary.
First name with nicks if the names are the same, we had a very loved and respected lawyer Barbara when we learned new big boss coming in was also a Barbara. They quickly adapted to being B1 (lawyer) and B2 (boss) after the characters in the kid’s show Bananas in Pyjamas Bananas in Pyjamas - Wikipedia