Overheard at the CTO
 

I was at the Beverly Hills UA CTO last week. As young woman was finishing her transaction, she realized there was a mistake in her name. She spoke up, "My ticket says "Miss Jane Smith." I'd like it to read, "Ms (pronounced Miz)Jane Smith."

The agent gave her an odd look and asked why.

"Because if my tickets reads 'Miss,' then I will be treated like a little girl. 'Ms' suggests age and authority."

So the agent changed the name.

I felt for the young woman. I suppose those things can make a difference.

Baloney. I don't care if her name is Betty Boop. She'll be treated according to how she acts. Woe to those who make assumptions about people based on names or titles. My personal favorite was a Dutch salesman we knew in PDX: Juan Martinez-Diaz.

I do have a problem with "Mrs. Jane Smith," however. I'm not married to Jane Smith, I AM Jane Smith. I'm also Mrs. John Smith.

Actually "miss" means a lot on airlines tickets. The airlines will assume that the traveler is a child and have happy meals and coloring books ready. At least Lufthansa did that when I brought a little girl along. I recall UA did the same when she went to Hawaii.

I recently changed my son's NW WorldPerks account from "Master" to "Mr" because I was concerned about him being able to qualify for certain NW promotions. It has made no difference in how the crew treats him or how they "prepare" for his arrival.

The woman was just being a snot. Titles don't mean anything; it's how you act in society that matters.

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If she doesn't want to be addressed as Miss, then so be it. If I were 80 years old and called a woman Miss, I could probably get away with it without any objections. But since I am in my 30s and know that consciously and purposely calling a woman Miss can be belittling to that woman in today's society, I do not.

Belittling? Give me a break. If I want to be belittling, there are a lot more words other than "Miss" that would do the trick just fine. This is political correctness to a ludicrous extreme. Are we really that sensitive?

I defy anyone who says that a polite use of the word 'Miss' as I might use it with a waitress in 'Miss, may I please have the check' is impolite or inappropriate (BTW, I've grown to hate that overused word: inappropriate). Or perhaps I should only use the term with a 'waitperson' or 'server' or...

I went to Wendy's the other day to pick up lunch for my movers. The woman taking my order said hon and honey to me so many times I was worried about a bear attack on my walk home. This is a cultural thing down South.

When I am on the road and I want to be perceived as polite, I will say say, "Thank you ma'am," with the slightest Texas twang. I have yet to have a negative reaction especially in Europe and Canada.

Waitron is another alternative for food service worker.

What a sad person! The problem is, thank God, her's and her's alone


When I am on the road and I want to be perceived as polite, I will say say, "Thank you ma'am," with the slightest Texas twang. I have yet to have a negative reaction especially in Europe and Canada.

Waitron is another alternative for food service worker.

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Did I read this correctly? YOu do not have a problem in Europe saying that surely? We tend to love Texan accents

I think you miss my point. If you know that someone doesn't want be called Miss, do you still act like an a**hole and call that person Miss. It's not about being PC and it's not about what YOU want to call people, it's about what is polite. It doesn't take any more effort to be polite. Ultimately, we are all treated the way we treat others...

I suspect that the "young woman" really was a girl. Kids tend to take themselves very seriously, especially in a "grown up" environment like traveling on an airplane. She'll grow out of it.

Now, going from "Miss" to "Madam" - that's the bummer! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

GG, you need to go back & read the post again...it was an 'in person' experience. He said it was a young woman, not a girl.

If you feel this clergyman, zrs70, is not telling the truth, just come out & say it. I accept what he said as factual...

Perhaps you should re-read your original post. You weren't referring to calling this particular woman Miss after she objected to it, you were making a global statement that it is improper to call women Miss.

As to the woman in question, hopefully she'll learn that, by making an issue of it, she makes others think of her as an affected fool.

Frankly, I don't understand what the big deal is. If someone doesn't want to be called "Miss" for whatever reason, that's her business and her preference ought to be respected. What harm does it do you to call her "Ms." instead? It's hardly constructive to call her an "affected fool" for preferring one over the other.

But what I really don't get is this whole outraged backlash over "political correctness taken to a ludicrous extreme." Who are we to tell people what they should and shouldn't be offended by? Has our society become so uncivil that our desire to say whatever we want outweighs our sense of common courtesy and politeness? If someone doesn't want to be called "Miss," it's pointless and rude to berate her for her opinion, inform the world at large that people have no business being offended by "Miss," and insisting on doing so to every other woman in the future. We could probably lower our collective blood pressure by just using Ms. and moving on to other more pressing issues. There are far bigger injustices in our society to fight than "political correctness."

Oh good grief, shadow - these days plenty of people will call any female over 12 a "young woman" and do it to be polite. My comment was mere speculation on the incident, within the context of what zrs70 posted. If he wants to tell me tell my guess is wrong, fine. I have no reason to doubt his veracity, whether he's a clergyman or a milkman.