TOPIC: Ma'am?!?

I just got off the phone with someone who at one point in the conversation called me "ma'am" (non-ironically).

I'm not offended, but I am very confused.

For those who don't know me, I'm a cisgendered, bass-baritone -voiced dude.

Just remember how dumb the average person is and that half the people are dumber than that!

- Shamelessly stolen from George Carlin

That's one of my favorite Carlin quotes!

This is funny because I have a pretty deep voice, too. Over the years I have been called Ma'am quite a few times over the phone.

I used to work in a call center when I was younger, that was one of our favorite ways to make fun of problem customers.

Picc wrote: one of our favorite ways to make fun of problem customers.

Just to toss this out there... Could they have simply called you "man" but had a bit of an accent?

Well obviously this thread is meant to poke fun at the awkward communication error.

If we are generous to the person on the other end of the phone we would likely realize this person quite possibly had more then one situation running around their head and accidentally two melded into one during a response.

It is more probable than them actually mistaking Druegar for a "ma'am"

How our brains construct and interpret our reality is weird. And a lot of people to not multitask well nor do they pay much attention to detail.

But the ornery side of me still suddenly wants to address Druegar as Ma'am if we ever meet.

Davoruk wrote: Well obviously this thread is meant to poke fun at the awkward communication error.

If we are generous to the person on the other end of the phone we would likely realize this person quite possibly had more then one situation running around their head and accidentally two melded into one during a response.

It is more probable than them actually mistaking Druegar for a "ma'am"

How our brains construct and interpret our reality is weird. And a lot of people to not multitask well nor do they pay much attention to detail.

But the ornery side of me still suddenly wants to address Druegar as Ma'am if we ever meet.

It would be a LOT harder to make that mistake face to face......

And nobody's ever said Gurrrllll to you?

Fiddy wrote: Could they have simply called you "man" but had a bit of an accent?

Great question, but in this case, no. She had an American accent (you know, she talked the goodest English) and later on apologized for calling me ma'am. (No, I didn't correct her, but I did pause a second to process what I had heard.)

Davoruk wrote: But the ornery side of me still suddenly wants to address Druegar as Ma'am if we ever meet.

I think that would be hilarious. Just don't be surprised if I play along.

Bob Chasan wrote: And nobody's ever said Gurrrllll to you?

Many times! And I've said it to my peeps many times.

---

I really want to emphasize, I was not offended in the slightest. I just found it hilarious.

I suppose part of why it's so funny to me is that I get confused with cow-orkers (no, I didn't mean to write co-workers) all the time. Specifically, there are two guys I work with who are from Belize. Both of them have thick Belizean accents (to most Americans, it sounds like Jamacian) and people think I'm one of them ALL. THE. TIME! Like, daily. I'm not kidding. So when someone mistook me for a "ma'am", it was the icing on the misidentification cake.