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Raphy Mendoza's avatar

This is so funny... 🤣.

1.) I don't think I would assume you're a woman from your voice, but I also can see that if you told me you were a woman, I would believe you and apologise for calling you 'sir.' I also don't make a habit of addressing people as 'mam' or 'sir' - I guess I never had to be customer service on the phone, and when I speak to clients I speak to them as equals. So I've minimised the chances of falling into that trap...!

2.) I would always be mistaken for a man when I'm on the phone to people in the Philippines (where I'm from). Whether I'm back home ordering a pizza, or I'm here in the UK dealing with customer service of some big company like Virgin. I don't know why - I guess Filipinas have higher pitched voices.

There was one instance that the customer service rep kept calling me 'sir' because of how I sound, but clearly my details are in front of him and it says I'm a 'Miss', so he kept correcting himself getting more and more stressed by the second. I told him I would forgive him for mistaking me for a man and not perform voodoo on all his loved ones (Filipinos are superstitious) if he would just please cancel my account. And that the reason, for the last time, is because I don't like them anymore and that that's a valid reason. And that I really am a witch, which is maybe why I sound like a man.

Eventually, he passed the phone to his manager and they cancelled my account.

I don't know how effective my threats really were, but I felt deeply desperate.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I think people get stuck in habits of speech. I've been addressed as "love" , and "darling", by men, and I sound and look nothing like a woman!

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