Death to pseudo-friendliness! Down with the unctious capitalist!
I detest the pseudo-egalitarianism that exists in business now. Sales assistants half your age being famliar with you. Bosses who want to be hip, so they encourage the photocopier boy to call them “Trevor”.
The truth is, you ain’t his pal, and he ain’t yours. A total distortion of the _real_ power relationship; he’s the boss, and you’re the servant.
It’s a matter of who’s the boss, and who wants what from whom. If you _are_Â? in sales yourself, a customer can call you “Terry”, but you should call them “Mr.”, until asked not to, or you’ve had a few conversations, and genuinely are ‘pally’.
Best to be formal at first meeting, with everyone, and if they say “Call me Jack”, later fine. People _love_ to be addressed formally on first meeting, with the exception of a few middle-class socialists (who’re nevertheless paying slave wages to the Latvian nanny).
I long for a return to old-fashioned civility; the essence of which is: you are polite and formal with everyone until they give you permission, either directly, or by inference, to be informal e.g. Civil servants should address each other as Mr., Ms. or Mrs., Sir or Madam. Everyone then knows where they stand, and the office jerk can’t ‘get at’ you, so easily.