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Haha, yeah, I was about to say that. If I took him a beer, he might nab me for being underage.

Well make it a Root Beer and make sure you treat him with some respect and some yes sir and no sir if neccessary. Young people how go out of there way to respect their elders generally reap the benefits many times over down road. Remember, you never know who he knows and that could make a difference someday.

Play the servant and you will be a servant. Saying "sir" to strangers is for McDonalds employees; it serves no purpose but to hold you back and slow you down...which is what most "elders" want of the young.

Treat people like equals. Consider their viewpoints and concerns as though they were yours. Respect their desires when possible. Kowtow to nobody....

Obviously you have no clue about respect. So what do you call you dad? "hey A$$hole??

dieziege wrote:Play the servant and you will be a servant. Saying "sir" to strangers is for McDonalds employees; it serves no purpose but to hold you back and slow you down...which is what most "elders" want of the young.

Treat people like equals. Consider their viewpoints and concerns as though they were yours. Respect their desires when possible. Kowtow to nobody....

If I'd ever called my father "Sir" he would've slapped me. I called him "Father" until I was about 18...after that I called him by his name.

I'll give you a little clue about respect... when I was 16 I was working with people two and three times my age making $25/hr as a computer programmer. This was back when $25/hr was a decent amount of money. I got the job because I had the respect of the proper people. I never called those people sir. I called them by their first names, just as they called each other by their first names. I was their equal, and after about the first hour the fact that I was decades younger than they were never crossed their mind (except once or twice when they invited me to go out drinking after work and I had to refuse...)

Over the years I have stuck to that policy and it has always served me very well. Far better than the "sir"ing and scraping I saw my peers do as they tried to grovel their way up the ranks.

Well that's good for you. But it doesn't work in every situation. Until I know someone on a personal level, I would be more inclined to use sir or ma'am. Oh and this has absoulutely nothing to do with money or work.

I tend to say sir or mam to anyone who I'm meeting formally, unless I have a reason not to respect them. I think everyone deserves respect, unless they've given you a reason not to.

Nothing wrong with that.

camthepyro wrote:I tend to say sir or mam to anyone who I'm meeting formally, unless I have a reason not to respect them. I think everyone deserves respect, unless they've given you a reason not to.

Use whatever works for you I guess.

In my case I would have (and still would) gone up and said, "Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Horace (or whatever I was calling myself)!" and offered my hand for the shaking... if he was roughly American in cultural reference he would most likely reply "Nice to meet you Horace, my name is Kalababala Mutubiburburani (or some equivalent)" and return my handshake. Niceties accomplished I would've let him get his concerns off his chest, and then said, "Kalababala, I understand your concerns... as a motorcyclist, I'm at least as woried about unsafe drivers as you are! After all, the only protection I have is a jacket and a helmet, and I don't want to test those! However, this is a public roadway and neither of us can keep legal and safe drivers from driving here. It is important that your children know not to play in the street or they may be struck by a distracted minivan driver!" ... and so on.

Of course, I wouldn't have been driving around without a driver's license had 17 either.

I'm with Basshole on this one as well. Sometimes it sucks to 17 but this too shall pass.