# I'm not your "boss" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 26, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690 "2012-08-26T05:50:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/21 "2012-08-27T01:03:04Z")
In a sense, you kind of ARE their boss. All of the people you describe calling you “Boss” were in service positions. You were a customer, so kind of the whole reason their job exists. Beyond that, I think it’s a variation on “sir” and other forms of impersonal address. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/22 "2012-08-27T01:58:53Z")
> [@I-VI-ii-V](#): > > What is up with everybody calling me boss? I go to Home Depot: “aisle 10, boss”. Costco: “sure thing, boss”. Oil change dude: “all done, boss”. This is a prison thing, right? Does anybody else get this or is it just an L.A./latino neighborhood thing? Sorry about that. Won’t happen again, massa. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/23 "2012-08-27T02:13:33Z")
Hope I’m not being racist here (really, I don’t INTEND to be!), but I’ve noticed that people from India, Pakistan, and that general region seem (at least in media) to call everyone “my friend” if, say, you go into a store they work in or you’re working with them. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/24 "2012-08-27T02:40:19Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > No, then you’d be ‘El Jefe’. Actually, here in Tucson, I do hear the word “jefé” a lot. > [@Smeghead](#): > > Sorry 'bout that, chief. Great Caesar’s Ghost! Don’t call me “chief!” ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/25 "2012-08-27T02:49:35Z")
When I was in the military, where any idiot with a bachelors in teaching woodshop to highschoolers might be in command, we called the people we _respected_ boss, so suck it up. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/26 "2012-08-27T02:50:12Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m not your “boss” But are you [“Like a Boss”](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/digital-short-like-a-boss/1081309) ? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/27 "2012-08-27T05:57:35Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’ve known some women, usually of the skater/surfer/stoner variety, who call everyone of both genders “dude.” > > . For whatever reason I am in the habit of addressing agents of merchants and service companies as “you guys” so I might ask “do you guys carry start relays?”. I’ve had maaaaybe four women over the decades who freeze up on it and go I’m not a guy.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/28 "2012-08-27T06:49:19Z")
Another anec-data point: The only people I can think of who typically call me boss outrank me. One of them gives off a bit of a sun-bleached surfer dude vibe, great guy to work with, even if I never sense that we’re thinking in the same direction. I’ve met the odd person who took offense to being called “Sir”, particularly a few of them when I was in Basic (no, not the instructors, we were actually required to call them “Sir”). I tend to tack it onto my sentences as a verbal tic, so I never really intend any disrespect. That said, if I am talking to someone that I know _should_ be addressed differently (such as Army NCOs), I’ll make a point of using the proper title. In the case of the Army guys, I even make sure to slur it properly (“Sure thing, Sa’rnt!”). ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/29 "2012-08-27T07:01:53Z")
Okay, you’re not my boss. Got it, coach. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/30 "2012-08-27T09:06:30Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Okay, you’re not my boss. Got it, coach. Listen, Chief, you’re hardly being a constructive force in this discussion. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/31 "2012-08-27T12:18:22Z")
Won’t happen again, dickface. ---
**Author:** ![phxjcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phxjcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phxjcc)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/32 "2012-08-27T12:20:13Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > When I was in the military, where any idiot with a bachelors in teaching woodshop to highschoolers might be in command, we called the people we _respected_ boss, so suck it up. This, ace. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/33 "2012-08-27T12:21:43Z")
Is that your dirt in boss’s hole? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/34 "2012-08-27T12:24:41Z")
Maybe it _is_ a better way of saying ‘sir’. I wonder if the same term could be applied to a woman. Or would it be ‘boss lady’? And would the woman feel offended or complimented? ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/35 "2012-08-27T12:25:25Z")
> [@I-VI-ii-V](#): > > What is up with everybody calling me boss? I go to Home Depot: “aisle 10, boss”. Costco: “sure thing, boss”. Oil change dude: “all done, boss”. This is a prison thing, right? Does anybody else get this or is it just an L.A./latino neighborhood thing? Consider yourself lucky. My dad had a bunch of Hispanic employees, and they all called him “Viejo.” Literally “Old Man.” ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/36 "2012-08-27T15:31:48Z")
I seem to notice the “boss” thing mostly around people who tend to be blue color. When I was doing some manual labor in college, pretty much everyone I worked with would refer to me or others as “boss”. It seems to me to just be a slightly more slanged version of “sir” but not quite as slang as “dude”. I get the idea, that it’s intended to be sort of respectful, but frankly, it is something that has always kind of bothered me since I really don’t see people in a hierarchy and I feel like it sort of feel like anyone calling someone boss, especially outside of an employer/employee relationship has a way of falsely creating that sort of hierarchy and I just want to relate to people as equals, and it bothers me just as much when people see themselves as less than me as when people see themselves as better. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/37 "2012-08-27T16:12:36Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > I seem to notice the “boss” thing mostly around people who tend to be blue color. Smurfs? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/38 "2012-08-27T18:58:11Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Maybe it _is_ a better way of saying ‘sir’. > I wonder if the same term could be applied to a woman. > Or would it be ‘boss lady’? > And would the woman feel offended or complimented? I’ve called my manager boss lady before, drama has failed to ensue. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/39 "2012-08-27T18:59:55Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Smurfs? B&D Smurfs, now there’s a vivid image. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690/40 "2012-08-27T19:01:45Z")
More often than not, it’s not intended to be “respectful”. It’s intended to demonstrate an inappropriate level of familiarity and casualness. Do you think any boss wants their employees calling their customers “boss”, “chief”, “pal”, “bro”, “man”, “friend”, or “buddy”? > [@Smeghead](#): > > Sorry 'bout that, chief. No problem…GAYLORD! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-your-boss/632690.md?page=3)