...did you just call me SIR?

[LizaMarie]

Oh god, I was on the phone with a customer the other day and said something like, "And who am I speaking with sir?" to which said customer replied, "Ruth."

[trunks2k]

*shrug* It happens. It's usually just a slip of the tongue. I used to do it occasionally when I was a cashier.

[InsanityInc]

I had something like that happen. I still want to know what they were on..... I stopped by a friend's who wasn't home. His neighbor reported that "some guy in a yellow and orange Bronco stopped by." I was driving a red and white Bronco, and have quite large womanly bits, DD type..... I want to know what they were on so I DON'T take any....

[jigshoes86]

Most callers you could tell right off, and most you were unsure of you could fudge until you got their account details, which would give you a first and last name. But sometimes their name wasn't the name on the account, or the name was unhelpful, and you had one of those voices you just couldn't be sure of...

And then the inevitable day when you're wrong, and all the ugliness that follows...

oh lord- I have this all the time at work- I have one set of customers that on top of the fact that they just called to complain about something being wrong with the pizza or maybe it being late so they were already mad, I couldn't for the life of me tell if I was speaking to the husband or wife. The caller I had had a very very unisex voice and the number had just the last name pull up...so I wasn't about to even try to use "yes sir/yes ma'am until i finally got "Let me put my wife on the phone" and wouldn't you know it.... the wife had one of those 'smoked 2 packs a day for 10 years' kinda voices

[EclipseDragon986]

I demand proof of womanly bits

Actually I've run into several situations where I have been facing a customer and talking to it for about twenty minutes and still I wasn't able to tell what a customer was. And I'm being serious about that. I just try to stay away from genders in that case.

[Imogene]

I just try to stay away from genders in that case.

Oh, good, I'm not the only one here who does that. Personally, I don't believe in binary genders. There are most definitely three genders, and upwards of an infinite number more. That's a rant for another day, though.
I had someone who was ringing out my purchase say, "Have a nice day, miss," and I about rounded on him to give him an earful. Didn't, but just as I hate my legal name, I hate my sex (Sex is between the legs, gender is in the head), really. I don't believe I should have a gender, nor a sex...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Sometimes when I let my hair grow down to my shoulders or so I get called "ma'am"

That's when I know it's time for a haircut.

[Pezzle]

I guess I just have a deep voice, becuase the HP, Dell, Gateway, and Microsoft reps all call me sir when I call to order parts or activate windows.

[Rahmota]

I've only gotten mistaken for a female a couple times in the real world but over a telecommunications device my voice is apparently very feminine sounding as I get it everytime. A couple examples:

I was checkign traffic on 275 and a guy comes on and says somethign like hey good looking wanna get together?" I use a line I heard from someone on here and say "Sure thign but I gotta tell you the truth. I'm only one surgury away from being a real woman" Nothing but dead air until another trucker came back with "Well that shut him up."

On the driveback from Whidbey my friend got a portal cb for the uhaul. I was doing a radio check somehwere in western nebraska to make sure the rest of the world was still there and got "read you loud and clear darlin..." Good thing I was driving or we would have wrecked because of how hard my friend was laughing.

Though in many of the stories posted on here I dont understand how if a person is paying attention they can do that. Over a telecomm I can as there's no body to compare to but still...

[bleh496]

Eeeegh, I'm now painfully reminded of a foot-in-the-mouth moment. Skinny east Asian 6" tall teenager with a mullet and a deep voice, dressed in a sports jersey, baggy shorts and sneakers came up to ask me if a particular pair of shoes would meet their employer's safety requirements.

Me: Well, yes, but actually those are ladies' shoes.
Teenager: Umm, I'm a girl.
Me: ...

and now you painfully reminded me of something, ... at my job, it's always busy as hell and not enough people, so I'm running around as usual and I come up behind this person, heavyset, short hair wearing a baseball cap, holding some big boxes, and I ask "do you need any help sir?"... that's when she turned around and i could see her face, clearly a female..., it was kinda awkward for the rest of the conversation, but I don't assume gender anymore unless I'm 100% sure. Felt awkward for the rest of the week.

[Barefootgirl]

Maybe the OP ran into Marcie from Peanuts. Didn't she have a thing for calling Peppermint Patty "sir"?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Maybe the OP ran into Marcie from Peanuts. Didn't she have a thing for calling Peppermint Patty "sir"?

Oh yeah . . . that was always kind odd, wasn't it?

I've had the "sir" thing happen once or twice myself. I just simply look down at the twins and then back at them and reply "well, last time I checked, I was female."

Besides, how many guys do you know that wear acrylic nails painted bright pink anyways?

[Shironu-Akaineko]

I just had a customer like that yesterday. Very heavy, short brushcut hair, deep voice, square jaw, tShirt, shorts... but something looked off.

So just to be on the safe side, I avoided every instances of "Sir" or "Ma'am".

And it was a bitch. It didn't want to understand the concept of seasonal items. "They get us used to a product and then pull it off! it's not fair! I keep eating hamburgers all the time!" And I was thinking "Yeah, I believe you, maybe you should cut back..."

(It looked too angry for me to tell it just butter the burger and sprinkle rosemary on it then cook it in a pan, it'll be the exact same thing...)

Turns out it was a woman.

Seriously coulda fooled me.

[Barefootgirl]

(It looked too angry for me to tell it just butter the burger and sprinkle rosemary on it then cook it in a pan, it'll be the exact same thing...)

"It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again..."

Sorry, but that was going through my head as I read through your post

[Becks]

Besides, how many guys do you know that wear acrylic nails painted bright pink anyways?

Truthfully...a few.

I'll bet you weren't expecting THAT answer.