Ladies, women, girls....

[margo49]

Over the years I have had lots of young people working with me for a while on their travels. Most (Europeans, Brits, North Americans, Colonials) were quite happy to call me by my name. But the Japanese and Koreans used to bow! Very formally on entering and leaving and a feet-at-attention plus head-nod during the day after getting a task or a reply to a question. Nothing I said made any difference.
I had a Turkish (agricultural engineering) student who always called me "Ma'am".

Couldn't get enough of it!

I prefer to introduce myself first: "margo from Kinneret" (because my family name is foreign and I don't like to use the SO's). Then I proceed over-polite, tightly structured and to-the-point. Things degenerate naturally from there.

If I encounter a damsel in distress I usually use Dear or Sweetie .
For a child I call them "Chick" (as in baby bird).
Men in distress I never aproach unless they are bleeding or unconscious or (preferably) both and I'm the only person around.