Originally Posted by PHLJJS
I'm a TSA screener at PHL and understand how you may feel it is disrespectful for a stranger to address you by your first name, ---- snip ---- I worked at a restaurant and we were taught that it was good customer service to address repeat customers by name.
That's the point here. It seems that the OP was not a repeat customer and was, indeed, a random stranger. A certain degree of familiarity is to be expected, if not welcomed, when you see the same folks on a regular basis.
I stay at a certain Starwood hotel quite frequently and the front desk staff knows me by sight and name. It's still "good evening, (morning) Mr .... " I address them by first names (the name badges don't list last names, or I'd use them). Even though they could easily be my grown children, I do say 'sir/maam' just as a matter of course. I am on a first name basis with the GM and management people, but it took a while for them to deviate from the formal address policy.
Down south we tend to be friendly, and I'd be rather disappointed if the occasional 'hon' or 'babe' wasn't tossed out by a waitress
A time and place for more personal forms of address is what seems to be the concern here. Be polite and you can't go wrong... at least that's how I was raised. (except when being a smarta**, which is allowable under the law, I think, maybe --- see 'Steel Magnolias' for more information)