There are very very few uh... archetypes of people in this world that I will let call me pet names. I think "sweetheart" (or alternatively, "sweetie"), "baby," and "honey"/"hun" is only ever okay for me if it comes from someone who OOZES positive mom vibes. But also I have mommy issues because my birth mother didn't love me enough as a baby LUL

pet names from somebody my age, or looks my age, just immediately feels condescending or patronising to me, and I get sort of irked by it. I don't really do negative confrontation, so it wouldn't be enough for me to say something to them unless it became like heavy flirting or super uncomfortable, in which case just a polite, "hey, that makes me uncomfortable, can you please not call me that?" should work!

we have one older customer i’ve always gotten kinda bad vibes from. he’s not necessarily rude, but he says literally the bare minimum to place his order, kinda throws the money on the counter, and then looks towards his group and jokes with them while i get his coffee.
the most syllables he’s ever said to me has been to call me “baby doll” and “honey bun” on two separate occasions and i swear i felt my skin crawl.

Usually it's guys that call the females at my location "honey," "baby," "sweetie" it creeps me out. Those are words my husband should call me, not some random guy.

it depends for me. we have a lot of elderly folks and it’s normal from them (mostly grandma energy). we’ve got this one married dude from brooklyn that calls everyone stuff like that, which is pretty normal ( most of my family is from new york, lots of ‘huns’ and ‘sweethats’.) we had this one guy prob in his 30-40. he asked our dtw where she went to college (normal small talk). she went “oh no i’m still in high school but i’m graduating this year”. he was like “oh. when’s your eighteenth birthday? i’ll have to stop by and bring you a birthday present “ and she put her mic on for safety so we heard the entire thing. disgusting.

It’s way creepier when done to women but as a baby-faced man, I always always get “buddy” “son” “kiddo” and it makes me super uncomfortable. Like, I’m probably close to your age, please stop. Customers should just not call us anything

It can also be regional! In the southern us it is extremely common for all genders and ages to use pet names with strangers. It threw me off when I moved there. Not that I would assume that *every* customer who does this is doing it because they’re from the south, just food for thought that it can be cultural.

I’ve had a loooot if older guys call me “baby girl” and it makes me so uncomfy

If someone is calling you a pet name and it's making you feel uncomfortable - tell them to stop and call you (your name). Sometimes people are not aware unless told but it's then a concern if they get mad at you for speaking up.

I personally have only used 'dear' and 'honey' to coworkers and customers - being a mom and a wife, sometimes it just slips out lol like in elementary school and calling a teacher 'mom' or 'dad' 🤣

a probably 65 year old man called me “fine lady” at the window (i’m 17). i almost threw up.

That’s an interesting topic. Growing up I got used to hearing things like that everywhere I went. So it only seems natural to say “hey hun how are you”.