Hello my good friends of Read dot Cash. How are you all doing today? Things are going ok so far for me. I have a Dr. appointment today in the afternoon for my eyes. I wish I had made it in the morning because it will be on my mind all day. Anyways let get onto the article.

Addressing someone properly is important. One should address another how they want to be addressed. Topics I will discuss about these greetings will be:

• Military Use

• Personal life

• When not to use

Military Use

Everyone has probably said yes sir or yes ma'am at some point. Probably not as much as me unless you were in the military. I was raised at an early age to use these, my father was in the military. It was not hard to adjust saying them when I too became a serviceman. The only thing that was kind of strange was when everyone starting saying it back to me.

I can recall many times when a new person came to us from basic training. They are very ingrained with using ma'am and sir. It is a requirement to address your superiors as such. At the very least you have to address officers as such but for enlisted (non-officers) members it's up to the individual being addressed. A common saying amongst enlisted members is don't call me sir or ma'am I do work. It's kind of a poke at the officers for just giving orders and not getting there hands dirty. Often these new members have to be told it's ok you can call me by rank or first name.

I can remember one girl that took several weeks to stop calling us sir or ma'am. She explained it was her upbringing to greet everyone as such. She was from Texas, a southern state and had very good manners. It wasn't too annoying but came to be kind of funny. She would laugh as well when we gave her that look to stop because she was just trying to break the habit.

Personal Life

I use them all the time. I greet all my customers at both jobs with it. Some one leaves a door open for me I say thank you sir or Ma'am. If your a complete stranger you will hear those words from me. I find it's a nice and respectful way to great someone. It doesn't matter to me what walk of life there living. I'll say to the rich and to the poor. Same goes for the elderly or a young person. I have just always used them

When Not to Use

If you are on the phone or in person with someone and can't figure out there sex don't use it. I have made this mistake a handful of times through out my lifetime. Every time it is very uncomfortable. My last boo boo was a week or so ago. It was here and I refferel to a guy as a women. I first glanced at photo and thought it was a girl. Upon hearing back from guy I blowed up profile picture and quickly realized my mistake. I apologized for my mistake and told him why. So I blow up all profile pictures now. If you don't have a face picture I won't address you as either unless I know.

Once you become friends with someone you should throw out the window. It is very awkward knowing things about someone and they still call you sir or ma'am. I guess in the virtual world it's ok to a point. Now if you are involved in personnel messages with that person it's probably good to just let go of it. Also if one doesn't like to be called such

Sometimes I feel people may see it as a term for those with great wisdom or older age. I respect those that think that way. Sometimes they don't like older people calling them such. It's not often I get told of this though. I'll tell you of one incident a few months back. I was making a delivery to an apartment and my son was tagging along. Anyways we get to apartment and a 8 year old boy answers the door. He tells us to set the groceries on the floor please. Once we are finished he hands me a cash tip and I simply said, Thank you, Sir." No big deal right, my son questions me, "Why did you call him sir that's so weird dad." I said, "Why not I'm showing my appreciation to him." He explains to me that boy looked a little shocked. I feel some are offended by the term. If I know this I will surely not call them such.

Final Thoughts

I use sir and ma'am a lot. Only was I raised to use them I got it reinforced more when I did time in the military. I'm still connected with the military but as a civilian now so there is no less of hearing sir and ma'am. It's not appropriate to use all the time and I try to be careful when and who I use it around. Just curious how you feel about being greeted as such.

That's all I have for today. I do feel I'm not done here as I want to talk about other greeting terms as well. That will be another day maybe tomorrow, haha. Take care all and a great day ahead.