Notes from the service sector: this is entirely just me, but I hate "miss" and much prefer "ma'am" even though obviously I am a miss (and likely to remain so.) At MBC I got used to ma'am being a term of respect because of VWIL (VA Women's Institute for Leadership//basically ROTC), but "miss" sounds condescending. (And is obviously a comment on my age, which I'm at least a little sensitive about.) Anyhow.
I do tend to notice the genders of the people I wait on at the Store, only because the Store is such a very gender-skewed place. It is woman's-only space, by default though not by design, so a man being there generally means a different script. Either he's there with his wife, or he has a project of his own but needs a lot of help -- I tend not to ask "What are you making?" but rather, "What's this going to be for?" to allow for the distinct possiblity that he's buying something for his wife.
From the other side of the consumer experience, though, I can't think of concrete ways that I treat men and women differently (though, being socially anxious and doubly so around men because I fear them, I basically try to avoid servicepeople unless it can be avoided.)
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Date: 2006-06-12 04:55 pm (UTC)I do tend to notice the genders of the people I wait on at the Store, only because the Store is such a very gender-skewed place. It is woman's-only space, by default though not by design, so a man being there generally means a different script. Either he's there with his wife, or he has a project of his own but needs a lot of help -- I tend not to ask "What are you making?" but rather, "What's this going to be for?" to allow for the distinct possiblity that he's buying something for his wife.
From the other side of the consumer experience, though, I can't think of concrete ways that I treat men and women differently (though, being socially anxious and doubly so around men because I fear them, I basically try to avoid servicepeople unless it can be avoided.)