Sometimes, early in the morning, I feel a little grouchy, when the security operative addresses me as "mate". I'm thinking, I don't you know you from Adam, you're not my mate, blah blah.....OTOH, he's probably just trying to be friendly, in the best way he knows.
In the same way, I may be flying with a colleague, and say something like, "you're getting a bit high, mate", even though I don't know him that well at all. Guess a lot of us are guilty of it - maybe we're just trying to run things smoothly. Best not to take offence, or if it really offends, say something.
Last edited by Slickster; 13th Nov 2009 at 23:44.