I tend to get frosty when I go out to eat by myself and have some teenage boy server address me as “youse guys.” I’m neither a guy nor plural. sigh
When I was a girl, I looked forward to the day I was grown up enough to be addressed as Miss Last Name or, if/when I got married, as Mrs. Last Name. By the time I was an adult the fashion became for every stranger to address me by my first name with no honorific address. I was actually quite disappointed by that trend.
For years, if a store clerk asked my name, I would say Miss Last Name only to have them demand my first name. But in about the last one to two years, I’ve noticed that at least adult store clerks are reverting to addressing me as Mrs. Last Name. I don’t happen to be married but never bother to say so or correct them to saying “Miss” as I highly appreciate the courtesy they’ve shown.
As to the young doctor my mom put in his place, well, as my dad was fond of saying, not all education comes out of a textbook. Perhaps the young man learned to be less self-important and treat patients with more respect. One can only hope so!