J.A. and I were massaging a married couple in the side-by-side room yesterday. Very nice folks, I'd estimate them to be in their mid-to-late twenties, so not too much younger than me (hey! no snickers from the peanut gallery!).
I was massaging hubby, and it was his first time (gotta love the newbies). He was a very big man, in great shape, with a high-and-tight that screamed "military".
Now to (finally) get to the point. To any question I asked this man, I received a reply with a "ma'am" tacked on.
"Are you comfortable?" "Yes, Ma'am!" "How's the pressure?" "Fine, Ma'am!" "Jake, I'm going to hold the sheet now and I'd like you to turn over, okay?" "Yes, Ma'am!"
The. Whole. Time.
After the massage, I just had to ask him, "Jake, are you in the military?"
"No, Ma'am!"
9 comments:
Perhaps he's just polite. We're all that way down here in the South, ma'am.
He didn't have much of a Southron accent, as far as I could tell...but you might be right!
It just makes me feel old, every time.
I actually don't have much of an accent myself. Although I spent a plurality of my life in Texas, spending large chunks in PA, New England, and now out west has turned my accent into a terrifying mishmash. I said "ma'am" and "sir" all the time growing up, simply the way I was raised. Being in the Army only drove the point home.
I had a funny experience in a restaurant with husband's extended family. Not to be mean, but I'm waaay cuter than all the women in his clan, and there were about 15 or so of us, and the waiter came around, and I could tell he was growing impatient with everyone else, but he kind of joked with me at one point, and also was calling me "Miss."
Hell, I'll take it! That's better than being carded for booze. Yippie Ki Yay, melon farmer!
But, of course, next time, it'll be back to the same old ma'am routine. Let me bask in this golden glow for just a minute longer before it flees forever.
SFC B - "turned my accent into a terrifying mishmash"...
LOL!
I can relate...Portuguese/Hungarian father who was raised in Hawaii, native German mother, who had an accent when speaking English, and living all over the US until age 9, when we moved to Germany. Lived in Germany until age 19, speaking mostly German. I think I speak generic American English, sorta TV announcer-like, but who knows?
Phlegmmy, you gotta take these moments when you can get them, 'cause they're few and far between. Isn't it nice to be "the fairest in the land"? Not that THAT's happened to me in the past few years...
Shit. I'll settle for being straight the hell OUT of the land of unsupportive catty bitches who can't see past their own church bulletins.
Feb 19 makes 14 years married, and at the birthday gathering this week, one of the women said "when's your birthday, Rita?" I mean, all these years, meeting 4 or so times/year for birthdays, and they finally bothered to ask about mine? In fact, one of the birthday gatherings was 3 days after mine, in October. It's actually less insulting if they never got around to asking. 14 years is pretty shitty.
Yeah, I take satisfaction in being waaay cuter than all those bitches.
Wow. They sound like so much FUN!
[/sarcasm]
I find it actually beyond shitty that no one has ever asked you, in all these years, when your birthday is. To me that udderly* lacks class.
I'd take satisfaction in being cuter, too. And I'd also take satisfaction in the fact that you're about to celebrate your 14th wedding anniversary, and they still haven't managed to scare you off! Outlast the bitches, that's what I say...
*(because they're cows)
I can't help it. It has nothing to do with your age, it has to do with me being reared to say "ma'am."
My wife tells me to stop it, because it makes her feel like a bitch. I'm... confused by this. Being treated with courtesy feels like you're being accused of bitchiness?
Maybe it has to do with the tone some people use when saying "sir" or "ma'am"?
Some people say it in a very sarcastic tone, and you can almost hear the eye-rolling when they say it.
I had a belligerent patient at the clinic I used to work at shout at me, "Don't you "sir" me, bitch!"
I thought I was being polite and professional, but he obviously took it the wrong way...
I'm glad his wife was embarrassed enough to drag him out of there.
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