The regular who calls me 'honey' still does it but now I get a weird feeling about it

I used to not think anything of it when Mr. Peterson at the 7th Street coffee shop called me honey every morning when I worked there. But after that whole thing with the manager last month telling us to watch for customers getting too familiar, I started paying attention to how he says it. It's the way he lingers on the word and stares a beat too long now that bugs me. Has anyone else had a regular's harmless thing turn creepy after you looked closer?

2 comments

2 Comments

julia_carter7028d agoProlific Poster

Trust your gut on this one, I've been down that exact road before. Start setting some small boundaries like not making eye contact when he says it or just giving a short nod instead of a smile back. If he keeps pushing past that, you gotta be direct and say "please just call me by my name" with no apology in your voice. That usually either fixes the behavior or makes them show their real intentions real quick. Better safe than sorry with customers, you can't be too careful these days.

stella_baker28d ago

julia_carter70 is right about setting boundaries. My friend Jen worked at a diner and had a regular named Bill who always said "see you tomorrow, sweetheart" in this real soft voice. She just ignored it for months until one day he waited for her to lock up and walked her to her car. Nothing bad happened but it shook her up enough that she quit. She told me later the nickname was the first red flag she brushed off.