I'm a paratransit driver, So, today I pick up this lady to take her to her moms house. As usual, I know where I'm going -----cause it's my job, Duh. I go to turn left onto Flavel and this lady says, "Honey, you want to go straight here." Well, first if you have an opinion, you should speak up before I'm into the turn, second, no, not really, I know where I'm going.

So a minute later I turn onto her street and she says, " Honey, it's the house after the red car." I'm slowing down cause were getting close, so now she Say's "HONEY, I SAID ITS THE HOUSE AFTER THE RED CAR" So I stop the bus and tell her, first, my name is not honey, it's Cheryl, or you can call me driver, but don't call me honey. And second, I can read house numbers. She says shes just being polite like she was raised. I told her I don't think it's polite to call people you don't know honey. She says "Don't put me down for how I was raised, Darlin. I'm just being polite.

So really, Should we put up with being called Honey, Darling or Sweetheart by the people we are providing professional services for? I find people usually use these terms when they are trying to be in control. They want to tell me what route to take or whatever. Decisions that I should be making, but they want to be in charge so they use these "terms of endearment, I think to make me feel like they are my superior. It's getting really old.

Recently I've been asking them "if you call me honey, what do you call the male drivers? Mostly they say they call the male drivers Sir. Interesting huh, I tell them I don't think that Honey is the female equivalent of Sir, what do you think?