I am not a "Miss"

[Sharnita]

Do you assume they give younger customers less respect than they give older customers? Unless they specifically have done something to indicate that is the case I am not sure why a Miss would be less respected than a Ma'am.

[Bijou]

Maybe it's coming back into fashion that this title is used instead of Ms (which I can see making some people irked) or ma'am (which definitely can offend some people).  I think Miss would be the least likely to offend, since people don't use Mrs. without a name attached the way they do Miss or Ms.  Well, unless you're Sharon Osborn, who calls even little girls Mrs.  (I think it's cute when she does that).

Wait until you're 72 and some young whippersnapper refers to you as "Young lady".   

[Julian]

I understand how it's annoying to be taken as younger then you are. I'm 31 but I have never been able to purchase alcohol with out showing my ID. Including wine club deliveries to my house. I've been able to legally drink for a decade but the UPS guy won't leave my expensive wine that's in my name at my house with me until he sees ID. I used to get really annoyed but they're just doing their job.

I was asked for ID on my 50th birthday.  It made my day!

(Yeah, I assume it was an 'ask everyone' policy, but still!   )

[Bijou]

I understand how it's annoying to be taken as younger then you are. I'm 31 but I have never been able to purchase alcohol with out showing my ID. Including wine club deliveries to my house. I've been able to legally drink for a decade but the UPS guy won't leave my expensive wine that's in my name at my house with me until he sees ID. I used to get really annoyed but they're just doing their job.

I was asked for ID on my 50th birthday.  It made my day!

(Yeah, I assume it was an 'ask everyone' policy, but still!   )

The last time I was carded was when I was 40.  You beat me!  Darn it!  But it was before it was routine, way back in 1980, so I can still gloat a little about it. 

[MummyPumpkin83]

POD to those who said that's what teachers are all called. Males get sir, females miss.

Miss seems to be standard for all situations here in Australia.

[Emmy]

Are you sure they are calling you "Miss" and not using the generic "Ms."  I'm a cashier in a convenience store,  and my interactions with customers are usually not prolonged enough for me to even concern myself with marital status, or looking for clues.  It's "Ms" if you look under 40 or so,  "ma'am" if you look older.

To be honest, that's what bugs me.  I strongly dislike women having different titles based on age.  A 20 year old man and an 80 year old man are both sir so I don't see why women can't have the same title no matter what their age.  I think many women take offense to ma'am because they feel the cashier is implying they look old.  I think ma'am is technically proper for all ages.

[Twik]

How can anyone be *really* sure they're being called Miss and not Ms? It's not like there's a ton of difference in the pronunciation.

[CakeEater]

Are you sure they are calling you "Miss" and not using the generic "Ms."  I'm a cashier in a convenience store,  and my interactions with customers are usually not prolonged enough for me to even concern myself with marital status, or looking for clues.  It's "Ms" if you look under 40 or so,  "ma'am" if you look older.

To be honest, that's what bugs me.  I strongly dislike women having different titles based on age.  A 20 year old man and an 80 year old man are both sir so I don't see why women can't have the same title no matter what their age.  I think many women take offense to ma'am because they feel the cashier is implying they look old.  I think ma'am is technically proper for all ages.

And I think that will happen eventually, it just takes a while for those old connotations to fade away in peoples minds.

I'm in Australia, and was a teacher for 9 years before kids. In my experience, it's uncommon for female teachers to use Ms, rather than Miss or Mrs. That might be different in the business world, I don't know. I suspect that eventually, Ms will become a lot more prevalent, but it will take a while. Then we can avoid the situation I had a few years ago where the four year 7 teachers were Mrs McAuley, Miss McEvan, Miss Morris and Ms Minner. Very confusing for kids and staff alike!

[Jocelyn]

I tell my students they may address me as my first name, or as Miss, Ms., Dr. or Professor Last name.
Some still insist on using Mrs. Lastname. I don't get it.

[kareng57]

Are you sure they are calling you "Miss" and not using the generic "Ms."  I'm a cashier in a convenience store,  and my interactions with customers are usually not prolonged enough for me to even concern myself with marital status, or looking for clues.  It's "Ms" if you look under 40 or so,  "ma'am" if you look older.

To be honest, that's what bugs me.  I strongly dislike women having different titles based on age.  A 20 year old man and an 80 year old man are both sir so I don't see why women can't have the same title no matter what their age.  I think many women take offense to ma'am because they feel the cashier is implying they look old.  I think ma'am is technically proper for all ages.

And I think that will happen eventually, it just takes a while for those old connotations to fade away in peoples minds.

I'm in Australia, and was a teacher for 9 years before kids. In my experience, it's uncommon for female teachers to use Ms, rather than Miss or Mrs. That might be different in the business world, I don't know. I suspect that eventually, Ms will become a lot more prevalent, but it will take a while. Then we can avoid the situation I had a few years ago where the four year 7 teachers were Mrs McAuley, Miss McEvan, Miss Morris and Ms Minner. Very confusing for kids and staff alike!

I think the kids will get it, once Ms. becomes more common in your schools.  My kids became very used to different female teachers who used different forms-of-address, and they never really got confused.  But, they'd also attended a preschool where the teacher was first-name, the sometimes-aide was also first-name, and the senior-aide was "Mrs. M."  They never questioned that, either.