Being patronising or maybe not ?

Blossoming - Quite! Also detest "guys".

When I did some training I was told not to call people by anything other than their name.It’s recognised to be a sign that you are indicating your superior position.
I’d never seen it that ways but I can see it now. Would we call our dr or solicitor love, duckie, sweetheart? No we wouldn’t. I also think it’s for people who are too lazy to remember our name!

entirely depends on the intent and tone for me
You can usually tell.

I had that training too.
It never took account of people who actually enjoy pet names or nicknames.
Some do.

Sleepygran

When I did some training I was told not to call people by anything other than their name.It’s recognised to be a sign that you are indicating your superior position.
I’d never seen it that ways but I can see it now. Would we call our dr or solicitor love, duckie, sweetheart? No we wouldn’t. I also think it’s for people who are too lazy to remember our name!

I do if they do. It can be quite enlightening, depending on their reaction.

Doesn’t bother me at all

I hate being called "dear" etc I think it's really patronising. Just as if I 'm a little o!d dear how dare they

Slightly off-message here but what I find horribly patronising is when a radio interviewer asks a question and the reply begins, "Look...", I can see the finger wagging at me as if I were a naughty child!

When working I always, always, ask how somebody wishes me to address them. I only have a couple of 'nicknames' for two grandchildren - which they seem to new happy with. Other than that, socially, I call people by their forenames.

I agree barb1946,
Dear makes me feel like a little old lady who needs help?

I’m a 63 year old medical secretary and was speaking on the phone to a male patient in his 80s the other day. He called me “sweetheart” and it made my day. But if it had been someone younger than me, I probably would have found it patronising.

Guys cover all nowadays and I wouldn't be offended. At work I used yo say 'right then folk' if I wanted everyone's attention. Certainly wasn't going to call out about 20 names. I think the people who use every way possible to address someone in a conversation are just continuing to acknowledge you are there, in their presence without having to remember your name all the time. Harmless.

Depends who it is and how it is delivered - a cab company receptionist who had failed to book a cab kept referring to me as 'sweetheart' in a harridan like manner when I rang to complain that I had missed a connection - that was not nice, but a manager in an office many years ago, a Geordie, often called me 'pet' and it was lovely. I liked him, he was a kindly, avuncular man and it was a warm greeting. If it is meant warmly - what's to complain about?

I don’t like hun or ‘you guys’ but I wouldn’t exactly call them offensive. Nor darling, come to that.

I like duck, pet, hen, love - and I love, ‘moi loverrr!’

‘Dear’ can IMO be nice - a very elderly neighbour calls me ‘dear’ - but it can also have the tone of ‘old dear’ which is enough to get anyone’s hackles up.

Back in the days when we could travel further than the end of the road, I used to love going to the next market town to me, in Staffordshire, where they always address as you as "me duck"! Said with such affection, how could that not raise a smile!

Lifes too short to sweat the small stuff. Unless of course some one refers to me as 'My dear' or'dear' and then the hackles rise. Its funny isn't it the things that get under our skin.

Cannot stand 'aw bless' - to me it is patronising and irritating.

But a flower is beautiful, a compliment ...

Alison333 I hate 'aw bless' makes me feel like I have been patted on the head! And I don't mind being called pet, love, darling etc but for some reason I hate 'duck'. I don't think I waddle with my bottom stuck out, but I may be wrong!

I dislike the word hun.

For some reason I find it extremely annoying. Especially when called it by a complete stranger.

Most of the time these are meant as friendly affectionate greetings and not meant disrespectfully. I don’t mind at all. Nice to have people being friendly. It depends how they’re said. If someone calls me dear in a patronising ‘she’s an old lady’ type of way that I do dislike intensely.

We moved to an area where ' chick ' seems quite popular. I also dislike dear, peeps, you guys and love.

They aren't expressions I tend to use , but they really don't bother me. Hun tends to be used by younger people, instead of Dear or Love. I only once took exception and that was when a cocky Irish boy I was serving called me Love. My retort was "don't you Love me. I am old enough to be your granny!" I call my customers by their surname until I feel I know them better, then it is their first name. I will call children "Sweetie ". We have had the army helping with vaccinations and the senior officer (he is 32!) calls everyone Sir or Ma'am which I think sounds lovely. But WHAT I REALLY HATE is when much younger people call old people CUTE! Now that really does make me fuming. " Cute! Cute! I'll show you how cute I am!"""????????

It's often a regional thing.
I laugh when I get called 'love, sweetheart, hun,' etc and I reply with, 'me luvver, me 'ansom or bird. I get looks of horror!
Probably just a Cornish girl living miles away from home!

I once had an estate agent agent who called me ‘babe’ within 5 minutes of meeting me. I told him we would get in fine if he didn’t use that expression!