Originally Posted by
Tim_AZ
I knew you were a parent by this point in your post. One thing I've learned over the years is that parents, especially single parents and those with young children, often forget how to talk to other adults. This results in becoming offended by things adults might say to each but not necessarily say in front of children. Not flaming, just making an observation.
I welcome your observation. But I am fairly certain that I know how to speak to other adults and do so frequently in the business world. I am not a single parent and I do not currently have young kids (6 kids ages 20-31).
I personally am not offended by what FA said. I do think that it was a poor choice of words to use with a customer.
The OP is a millennial age man. From my experience with millennials (including work training on differences dealing with millennial vs. boomers), OP was creeped out by someone roughly his mother's age saying they were going to spank him. No matter how light-heartedly it was intended, it made a customer feel awkward.
The older gentleman's comment was crude, especially since he did not know the OP.
Sometimes older folks need to realize that the world has changed, and what they think is funny is now considered the equivalent of making racist jokes.