Thursday, May 20, 2010

I'LL HAVE A BURGER HOLD THE NICKNAMES

This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine:

Yesterday, I'm out at lunch with my wife - that's not the pet peeve - and the waiter comes by to take our order. Being polite, he takes the lady's order first. Now, after Christine finishes ordering her lunch, he turns to me and says, "What can I get you boss?"

WAIT A MINUTE!!!! (Screeching tires sound effect. Energetic, 90's woman snapping her fingers, shaking her head and putting her hand up in your face.)

Let's get something clear, I am not your boss. I have no idea why you would think that or, if you were not using it in the modern context, why you would compliment with a term from the 70's. I don't know why, but being called a nickname by someone I don't know aggravates me. It is almost like a sign of your superiority, which in this situation with me holding your tip in my pocket, seems strange. I am not 'boss.' I am not 'chief.' And, to a lesser extent, I am not, 'your man.' I am, however, a paying customer hungry for a cheeseburger with bacon sans-nicknames.

Does anyone else get annoyed by this, or am I overreacting? (Or, both, which is most likely the case.)

4 comments:

Toni Ryan said...

Geez, calm down, sport. It's not ilke he meant any harm, friend, so you can just chill out. Besides, champ, he might just be a huge fan of yours and in his mind believes he is actually employed by you at Newman's New Man & Woman Clothing Outlet. who knows. in short, just be cool, hoss! BE COOL!

The Christine Show said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Toni stole my comment!

Chrystal said...

I hate when waitresses call me "hon" even though they are obviously younger than me - it's one thing to have a grandmotherly waitress say it, but when it's a 20 year old college kid, it annoys me.

Debbie said...

I agree, I really don't like the "hon" thing. It has happened many times at work, when I'm on the phone with another office, and the secretary will call me "hon." It has also happened with waitresses. I don't know which is worse, "hon" or "honey." They are both pretty bad! :(