This was submitted by an anonymous visitor hailing from the Bay Area in California. He brings to light the difficulties of being friendly to be that don’t care for pleasantries or may be offended if you, a very busy bartender who server a lot of people each day, don’t remember his or her name.
Some customers get offended or give me strange looks when I use short names. I don’t like to do it but some times they just slip out. For example…
- Bud
- Buddy
- Man
- Boss
Do you guys have a problem being called any of these short names? “Boss” tends to piss people off the most.
From The Editor: I know what you’re talking about with this one. I think these short names mostly apply to men addressing men. In your case, you’re the bartender who simply can’t remember every person’s name, or use these common names to simply be friendly to some guy asking for a drink. Short names for women include babe, baby, honey, sweetie, etc. In modern society, these are now considered derogatory “pet” names which could possibly get you in trouble. I do hear women call other women “honey”, but I think that’s about as far as it goes. Possibly the only proper was to address a female patron with a short name would be to call her miss or ma’am. If the patron is very young, I think addressing her as “young lady” is appropriate and respectful. Be careful using short names on women though, you can easily offend a women by calling her ma’am or miss because those names will make them feel old.
I suppose the short name you use really depends on the environment. If you’re working at a college bar, calling those kids “man” “girl” “bud” etc. should be fine. In a more refined environment, you really can’t go wrong with “sir”, “mr.”, “ma’am” and “miss”.
This service industry worker has noticed some men don’t like to be called “boss”. What he/she may not know is “boss” is used commonly in detention centers. An inmate usually calls a guard “boss”.
Short Names Bartenders Often Use.,
Posts like this make the inrtenet such a treasure trove
i’m totally on board with the whole post, except the “miss” bit. i’m in my 20′s, and i would prefer to be called “ma’am” than “miss” every day of the week. i would say maybe it’s older women who take offense at the “ma’am,” but my mother, who is in her 60′s, feels the same way. on a side note, it drives me crazy when my tables call me pet names. not only did i introduce myself by name when i came to your table, but i’m wearing a name tag, in case you forgot – or weren’t listening, which is much more likely.
Usually its the other way around, some mouth breathing knuckle dragger calling me douchey nicknames. Whenever someone does that to me I just give it right back.
CUSTOMER: “Hey Chief, give me a Bud Light”
SMARTASS BARTENDER: “You got it PAL!”
(Why does it seem like the idiots are all Bud Light swillers?)
CUSTOMER: “Hey Buddy, we’re ready to order now”
SMARTAS BARTENDER: “Sure thing, be right with you GUY!”
Fact is, I’ve been in and out of the service industry since the early 1980′s. I’m hoping that in the next couple of months I’ll finally be done with it for good. Its a great skill to have to fall back on, but it has made me absolutely despise the general public …and I spent several years in LAW ENFORCEMENT!
I found this article while looking for a list of names customers use on bartenders that we don’t much care for. Why should the customer take offense when a bartender calls them anything? Especially in a very busy place, they should count their lucky stars they’ve been noticed at all.
But how many bartender have you called “boss” or “chief” or “yo”, or “hey”? I assure you they don’t care for that at all, especially if the bartender is wearing a name tag. There are many, many customers, no way to learn their names. But one or two bartenders? “To, chief. Gimme two Buds and a Bud Light.” I wish the appropriate response to that was “No. Who’s next!”
When people say “Hey” I tell them “Hey doesn’t work here anymore. He got fired because of his bad attitude. And Yo got fired for kicking the shit out of someone.” HAHA
This is kinda a psychologically male way of thkniing , you know, looking at things in general, not the details.You are right somehow anyway VA:F [1.9.15_1155]please wait…VA:F [1.9.15_1155](from 0 votes)
As a female server. I don’t really care what pet names I’m given by a server since I do it all the time when I’m serving guests. Male or female you’re probably going to get called something like Sweetie, Pumpkin, Suga, and if your a young girl Princess or a young boy Pal, Buddy, Stud. It’s just in my nature to say these things to people that I’m interacting with.
I get pretty mad when people call me “guy”. Not sure why, as I don’t mind “man”, or “dude”. Pet peeve.