Called "Sir"... Why, oh WHY?!?!

[surgtech1956]

I get called 'sir' once in awhile. I always thought because I don't dress feminine or girly. I wear guys shorts, shirts, jeans, don't carry a purse, don't wear makeup or hardly any, and have short hair.

[Dr.Doo]

I get called Sir and in times gone by Son or Sonny lots. I get asked to leave women's rest rooms often and I'm a shorty skinny thang (not as skinny now at a 'hefty' 125lbs - now before y'all jump on me, it's relative, I've been 100lbs all my adult life until I gave up smoking and hit menopause). However, I totally love the 'gender queerness' of it. I love how, when a man has asked for the time "Mate", how flustered they can get when I answer in a very obviously female voice. I don't suppose it helps that I don't wear women's clothing, have a shaved head and no boobs to speak of.

I don't think people 'see' beyond general details. My housemate and I have been mistaken for each other many, many times - especially when we were a couple - but we look nothing alike apart from we're both not tall and both average/under-weight.

[rollinat]

I don't think people 'see' beyond general details. My housemate and I have been mistaken for each other many, many times - especially when we were a couple - but we look nothing alike apart from we're both not tall and both average/under-weight.

LOL - my friend and I are still confusing the local pharmacy, only because we are both short, 40-something Scottish women - I guess they still don't really believe there can be two of us! It makes me laugh every time (I am easily amused...)

[Dr.Doo]

LOL - my friend and I are still confusing the local pharmacy, only because we are both short, 40-something Scottish women - I guess they still don't really believe there can be two of us! It makes me laugh every time (I am easily amused...)

Easily amused is no bad thing. It makes for entertaining days

[Hi Ho Silver]

I often get called "sir" by rather vague young clerks. I usually just stare at them until they correct themselves. But even worse, a couple times I have been asked if I was a nun ... now that really hurts!

[NbyNW]

Knott, I have no idea how you could be mistaken for a man.

[DebW]

The last couple years I've had young boys asking me if I was a boy or a girl. I think the 3 year old was keying off my unshaved legs, and the 7 year old is at "that age" (he keeps asking me if I wear a bra - I don't). I did freak someone out in the restroom at a movie theater once last year while standing around in my bike helmet. I always wear men's pants or shorts and unisex shirts and have fairly short hair.

Actually, I wish I would have been mistaken for a boy on the phone in the 70s. Instead, when I answered the phone in the bike shop, people would ask to speak to a mechanic (arg!!!, as if a woman can't be a mechanic). That used to really drive me nuts. Now people are generally please to see a woman mechanic in a shop. Though one elderly man a couple months ago ask the manager if I was his wife (as if that's the only reason a woman would work in a shop). The manager handled it well by replying that I was an experienced mechanic.