Comic Strips

That was me going to college after getting out of the military

I was walking to class when the student ahead of me held the door open for me and gestured "Here you go, sir"

I went to the lecture, but just sat there devastated and unable to pay attention

The one that got me was being called "that man".

My dad is "Mr. " and he thought of his dad as the same, but both he and I have courted and expected the same title in various places and if you're called that name enough times, you can kind of get used to it.

But when a small child almost runs into you and their mother chastises them with "Careful! You almost ran into that man!" and "that man" is you. Oh boy. And another time "Why does that man look so sad?". As you might imagine, I was not having a particularly good time before that small child said that.

But I suppose it wasn't "that old man"...

When I was younger, I used "ma'am" and "sir" as respectful ways to address people. I still do to this day. Only once did I have a lady get mad at me for referring to her as "ma'am," but it was so automatic that I couldn't exactly stop. Never have I used either term with disrespectful intent.

It's funny, sir never held any connotation of age for me. But I've heard ma'am apparently does. Was she expecting another word? Like miss or something?

I call every woman I don't know "miss". I've just seen too many of these meltdowns among my friends and girlfriends over the years, I don't want to contribute to harm

People have started calling me “boss” I reply with “sport”.

I got called “sir” for the first time when I was in high school and loved it

Man I get really sick of this trope. “Ma’am” is a term of respect for literally any woman who looks old enough to be married or have children. That means basically anyone who doesn’t look like an actual child. Calling a grown woman “miss” would basically be infantilizing.