'Don't call me mate'

rG-tom · 20 Jun 2006 at 00:56

yermum said:
I find 'mate' offensive and disrespectful when used by a young sales assistant to someone for whom he/she should have more respect. I always point out that I am not a mate but a customer and, therefore, paying their wages and do not want to be talked to as they would to someone in the local pub.

Local colloquialisms, such as 'me duck' as used in the Midlands are perfectly acceptable.

calling someone "mate" is not disrespectful, it's putting someone on the same level as yourself to relax things...regarding someone you don't know as a lower class than yourself just because they are younger / working in a shop is far far more disrespectful, and imo is extremely snobbish. If someone replied "i'm the customer, I pay your wages, bow down to me (paraphrase)" I'd refuse to help them.

Tom.

Jonny ///M · 20 Jun 2006 at 00:58

Lets see.......hows about a Mr.Islam.......who i called Mr.Islam.....demanding he be called Dr.Islam??? Should i,he isnt treating me is he? :confused:

Anybody i serve at work is mate.....if its a woman i really dunno.....its not mate anyway,miss.....doesnt work with the older people. :confused:

I have been treated with the I AR SUPERIOR TO YOUUUUUUUUU before......i was like right adam...you serve the guy. Thats what happens when you go against your superiors instructions......and do what the customer wants and you try to show him how stabilizers wont fit the fricking bike........he didnt trust my opinion and insisted i show him......he then claims i was unproffesional trying to get them to fit :confused:

badgermonkey · 20 Jun 2006 at 01:00

Start with some welsh then

"Aight butt"

Well... kinda crap welsh chaviness, a stupid way of saying alright bud.

RiPz · 20 Jun 2006 at 01:02

Bracco said:
It's even worse hearing men call women "mate", that really grates.

Does that mean you judge women differently to men ? surely its better to bring everyone onto the same level than to segregate

badgermonkey · 20 Jun 2006 at 01:03

Sam reason i have no qualms with hitting a woman

They want equal rights? Id hit any guy if they did particular things, why cant i slap the missus about a bit? :eek:

Jonny ///M · 20 Jun 2006 at 01:09

badgermonkey said:
Sam reason i have no qualms with hitting a woman

They want equal rights? Id hit any guy if they did particular things, why cant i slap the missus about a bit?

*waits on OCUK womens rights brigade*

I must say my cousin was being raped by some skanky hoe years ago and he kicked her n broke her bangle.....poor thing. It stopped her though

I have now trained him to aim for the ovaries. :eek:

It sounds weird calling a woman mate.....i was on the phone to a lady at another store and at the end of the call i was like cheers.....see ya later mate........i was like sorry...its usually a guy n she just laughed.

DRZ · 20 Jun 2006 at 01:10

Any unknown customer is addressed with "Sir (or madam)" where I work. At no point would I ever be allowed (or even think! :eek:

) to call a customer "mate" unless I had been dealing with them for a while and had struck up a friendly rapport with them.

Having said that, a huge percentage of customers I deal with are business people and quite a lot of them hold accounts with us so a 'professiona'l approach is required.

We have a VERY high compliments to complaints ratio, so our approach is clearly working

Jonny ///M · 20 Jun 2006 at 01:11

DRZ said:
Any unknown customer is addressed with "Sir (or madam)" where I work. At no point would I ever be allowed (or even think! ) to call a customer "mate" unless I had been dealing with them for a while and had struck up a friendly rapport with them.

Having said that, a huge percentage of customers I deal with are business people and quite a lot of them hold accounts with us so a 'professiona'l approach is required.

We have a VERY high compliments to complaints ratio, so our approach is clearly working

Where do you work like? mate.

Pulsedriver · 20 Jun 2006 at 01:45

I tend to call the younger customers 'mate', I think it makes them more relaxed with me, and I certainly feel the same if I go into a shop, and somone around the same age as me says something like;

"You alright there mate?"

Being called 'sir' makes me feel a bit awkward.

I have no issues at all with people referring to me as mate, whether ive never met them before or not.

wedgie · 20 Jun 2006 at 07:21

Calling someone that you don't know 'mate' is just a friendly term imo. I don't think it is any way a suggestion that you know them or that you are their friend.

ps, SeanyK, your PC is a monster!

Spacky · 20 Jun 2006 at 08:01

Replace mate with boyfriend, will resolve any confusion and both parties will know where they stand.

lucifersam · 20 Jun 2006 at 09:20

Jonny ///M said:
Lets see.......hows about a Mr.Islam.......who i called Mr.Islam.....demanding he be called Dr.Islam??? Should i,he isnt treating me is he?

Anybody i serve at work is mate.....if its a woman i really dunno.....its not mate anyway,miss.....doesnt work with the older people.

I have been treated with the I AR SUPERIOR TO YOUUUUUUUUU before......i was like right adam...you serve the guy. Thats what happens when you go against your superiors instructions......and do what the customer wants and you try to show him how stabilizers wont fit the fricking bike........he didnt trust my opinion and insisted i show him......he then claims i was unproffesional trying to get them to fit

Fair enough to this islam guy. im not being anal or anything but hes taken the time to study like hell and done pretty well at something to get a doctorate be it in medicine or whatever. damnit if i had done that well id make sure people called me Dr.

one thing that really gets my spine is the local chavs that call you blood or bruv i hate that :mad:

Jono · 20 Jun 2006 at 10:37

Someone called me "Son" once. Only once. I leapt into his arms and shouted "DADDY!".

(It wasn't my father btw).

Think he was with his wife/girlfriend at the time. I just walked off while he did some explaining... or something.

Sic · 20 Jun 2006 at 11:01

i don't mind being called mate when people don't know me. but i wouldn't expect it from someone (i didn't know) at work...sounds quite unprofessional, unless you're a lorry-driver (no disrespect to lorry drivers...but you don't exactly have to have much consideration for your language use in your office).

i hate it when people overuse the word "mate". it's as bad as stuttering, and sounds equally moronic.

Jono said:
Someone called me "Son" once. Only once. I leapt into his arms and shouted "DADDY!".

(It wasn't my father btw).

Think he was with his wife/girlfriend at the time. I just walked off while he did some explaining... or something.

remind me never to call you mate, unless we become friends...i wouldn't want you taking that literally then raping me to prove a point.

Sputnik II · 20 Jun 2006 at 11:04

I've noticed most people that get offended by being called mate seem to be middle aged asian men who reply with "Don't call me that, I'm not your mate..yada yada..."
Just wondering if its something to do with them not understanding the less informal ways of addressing people in our language?
Once worked with a guy that was really bad with names so he just called everyone Tommy.