I have a name, dagnabit!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I figured this would be way too lame to post as a Pit thread, as it has the distinct smell of MPSIMS on it. So here goes:

As is evident from some of my infrequent posts, I work in a call center. I take inbound calls about a specific product, inquiries, complaints, compliments, what have you. I’m pretty well trained too. I know a lot about what I do, in some cases a lot more about products that my company offers than the bigwigs in the company. Although I complain a lot, I really do enjoy my job, and I like talking to people from all around the country. I really do. But I’m about to go insane because of a very small issue: pet names.

General public, you do not know me. If you did, you would know better than to give me ridiculous endearments while on the phone with me. My own boyfriend doesn’t dare. Since you do not, though, I would like to respectfully (because I’M polite and respectful on the phone) ask that you stop calling me the following things instead of my name, Ma’am or Miss:

Baby
Honey
Sweetie
Sweetheart
Sweetcheeks (!)
Sugarpie
Love
Dear
Sugar
Honeychild (I’m not making that up)
or

Babylove

Just stop, ok? It makes me think that you assume I’m mildly retarded, whether it’s b/c of my young age, my fairer gender, my profession or some other random factor. It’s insulting to me to have to call someone Mr. or Mrs., sir or ma’am, and you’re calling me things that you would call a kitten!

Honestly, I’d rather take a call from an spitting, cussing customer than listen to someone call me these names several times in a conversation. I’m sure you have the best intentions, but it’s not nice. It feels belittling, and I just thought you should know.

I’m glad we had this talk. Maybe next time we’ll talk about you saying racist things and expecting me to agree with you b/c of my race, but that’s a totally different species of customer, so it’s for another time. And probably for the Pit.

2

Ooo, add me to that. We have a volunteer for whom we have consistently been FORCEd to bend over backwards for. I work very hard to get him the things he needs. It’s been FOUR YEARS and he still doesn’t know my name and I just wanna kick his ass when he calls me sweetie or hon.

3

So, just to clarify – “Sugar Tits”: Ok or no?

4

Hal, you of all people should know. You’ve started some great threads here. Are you known as Hal the Thread-Starter? You have a beautiful baby. Are you known as Hal the Father? You used to be the Evil Overlord who created the Squick. Are you known as the Creator of the Squick?

But you walked away from your computer for five minutes…

5

You and that Mel guy are such racists !

6

Was Diana singing along to the on hold music Again…?
But you’re right; its not Hal the father nor Hal the son. (If it’s Hal the Holy Ghost, Amen :wink: )

7

Maybe they call you by those names because they can’t pronounce “Wnabtokio”.

8

Black guys call me “big man”.
No one else. Ever. But every black guy I encounter greets me with "Hey big man!’

9

I’m always surprised by people that get offended by this kind of thing. I find it endearing. Yeah, “baby love” is going a bit far and "shmoopy’ is right out of the question, but I’ve never taken offense at it. I think in most cases these might be regionalism’s. I don’t remember hearing much of this growing up (in SoCal) but it’s pretty much standard here in “the south”.

It seems to be way more common for women to take offense. Is that because of the whole male repression thing? Any male dopers out there feel the same way about being addressed so casually? Does it even happen to you?

10

How 'bout “Candy Nips?”

Go or no go?

:wink:

11

I don’t think it has anything to do with male oppression–I just feel like I’m being talked down to when people use this kind of endearment with me. It’s the kind of language you use with a child, not an adult. As a result, I have exactly one criteria on if you may use such names with me–you must be at least my age, if not older. Things may change as I get older though, I made that rule when I was 16.

(However, no one, absolutely NO ONE, may call me ‘cute’. ‘Cutie’ is fine though, as long as you fit the above criteria)

12

I was called not only ‘sug’ ‘honey’ and ‘baby’ today, someone dared to call me ‘young miss’. Actually, I didn’t mind that too much, except he went on to say that he felt the reason I wasn’t cashing his check was because he was black.

Needless to say, this wasn’t the case.

13

Blecccch. That’s a horse of a different color(no pun intended). While, again, this type of thing doesn’t bother me, I’m hip to the fact that different little things will work one’s nerves. I have a co-worker that has to give me a dissertation about every little thing she does.
A. I know!
B. I don’t * care *

I try to remember that this is a product of * her * mental function (in her case, neurosis]. I guess I’m just saying that maybe it will cut down on the feeling of being condescended to if you try to think of it as a result of where the person was brought up, or maybe even an attempt on their part to foster an amicable relationship?(though obviously not in Persecuted Black Guy’s case) Or, ya know, maybe they’re just dicks. It’s hard to say :slight_smile:

14

My personal hate, if I may add to your list, is “young lady” - GRRRRRRR! I am 52 years old. I am not flattered when you refer to me as young or if you imply that I’m some sort of delicate flower or you use some feeble attempt to suggest that I’m too attractive for words. :rolleyes:

No one ever calls my husband “young man” - even before his hair started going white.

It’s demeaning. Period. Call me Ma’am. Call me Madam. Call me Miss. Call me “Hey you” - but stop with the “young lady” crap. Now. Stop. And go away. Thank you.

15

I only get it from truck stop waitress types. I can’t see it happening at work though.

16

My problem is people not bothering to learn your name even when you’ve worked with them for months- and it gets worse when you’re wearing a name badge.

Being invisible to other people is a useful skill if you’re in an Intelligence Operative, but it’s not quite so useful in the retail industry…

17

Whenever I get a young, timid, and very new employee on the phone, I wind up responding to one of the strings of apologies with:

“That’s okay, sweetie. I’m just glad you’re helping. Take your time. I’ve done customer service before, and I’m not in a hurry.”

I never thought I was being offensive. :frowning:

18

As another one in the long line of customer service reps, I will second not being called cutesy pet names by people I don’t know. Whatever happened to miss or ma’am? Also, if you call and I tell you my name is pbbth and you did not hear me correctly, either ask me again what my name is or call me ma’am…do not call me: Heather, Crystal, Millie, Reggie, or anything else you think you might have heard. Seriously, none of these sound anything at all like my name, but I hear it all day long.

19

If you have Sugar Tits, aren’t the candy nips sort of assumed?

20

Not really; could be Sugar Tits and Sour Nips, to round out the taste experience.