“Boss” hasn’t really made it here I don’t think. Then again, I don’t get out much.
When I moved earlier this summer I hired movers and these 20 something guys kept calling me “Sir” and I’m like, “Hey I’m your ag- oh no, I’m old.” 
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The gendered part is a huge reason why the “ma’am” bugs me so much. IDK, I think it’s more polite to just get the attention of whomever you’re addressing and then say what you need to say without some honorific (unless it’s required), but if you must use some weird generic designator, choose a non-gendered one.
I’ve been misgendered by “polite” strangers in the past, and it’s annoying and unnecessary. 
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Don’t “Sir” me, young man, you have no idea who you’re dealing with.
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I saw this on Sunday and as usual with David the last several times he’s been on the show, my reaction was… “he’s just a grumpy old man now”. Even though he’s only 66…
My reaction when someone calls me “boss” or “chief” etc is “whatever”. Stop being offended at stupid shit like that.
I actually heard some grumpy boomer say that he was bothered when someone said “enjoy the rest of your day”. I can’t even remember why, I think I stopped reading and once again said… you guessed it… “whatever”.
*Edit.
Holy shit, I just googled my phrase and found this blog post (not the one I was thinking about above) and WTAF.
The best part is this:
Before I go into my rant about that horrifically-worded phrase, please understand that I’m a most peasant person. In my office correspondence I’ll begin and end any letter, fax and email with pleasantries.
Cringe
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Can we call her churl? And she still sends faxes in 2019?
British NCO addressed as “Sir” by a recruit, standard response is “Don’t call me Sir, I work for a living”.
Ok, that’s it. I’m working to bring back “chum”. Or maybe “buddy”.
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This gendering thing is in full display here. I was helping my high school freshman study for a Spanish language test. The question made us choose either “el” or “la” based on people’s names: Rosa y Carmen. That got us into a discussion about how sexist many languages can be, and how you would use ‘ellos’, the masculine form of ‘they’, if there were a hundred women but just a lone man.
A little bit of my job deals with linguistic issues; I’m not sure how (or when) this legacy stuff will be addressed by whomever holds the keys to the language.
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Glad someone caught both of those things right away.
Also:
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I only ever call people “boss” when they are telling me how to behave and I don’t want to go straight to “fuck off and mind your own fucking business arsehole”. “Sure thing boss. Right” am I doing it right?
I don’t, and never have, called anyone sir. Even working a service job.
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Saw this and was shocked.
Lets all take a moment to appreciate that the old crotchety guy is David Sedaris instead of Andy Rooney. We have come a long way, my friends.
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When I tried learning German, I got totally hung up on having to not only try to learn the words but also having to learn what gender (die / das) is associated with seemingly genderless nouns like “table” and “window”.
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Was it Greg Brown??
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i don’t mind “boss” – it feels chummy, but yeah, there definitely is an implied power dynamic and that’s uncomfortable. “chief” i like, but i don’t use, because it feels insensitive to actual indigenous people, many of whom live in my area. I’m all for bringing back other old-timey words for the same thing, though. “Chum” is great. so is “Pal” but i’m particularly enamored with “Comrade” lately.
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Something I had to get used to was the use of the term “sweetie” by a large number of Women in the service industry. It’s endearing and fits the “southern hospitality” stereotype quite well, but I made me uncomfortable initially. I eventually realized it didn’t matter how I felt about it, but if those saying it were comfortable doing so, have at it.
I feel the same way about “Boss.” It’s almost always used in a subordinate service setting. While I’d be much more comfortable with something that didn’t convey that relationship so “on the nose,” I also realized if it made the other person comfortable, who am I to suggest otherwise?
For me, it’s always been “sir” or “miss”, though as I’ve gotten older I’m worried the latter comes of as disempowering. I certainly don’t mean it that way, it’s just I didn’t grow up around “ma’am” enough for that to feel appropriately deferential enough to me. I may have to rethink that.
Were social conventions always this complicated? 
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I specifically remember seeing a tone-deaf segment that he did complaining about air travel that other folks like Jerry Seinfeld and David Sedaris did their own versions of later. (Cringy because they all flew or fly first class) It really seems like once you’ve reached a certain point in your career you’re very likely to lose the ability to connect with regular folks. And struggling authors or entertainers are almost certainly going to have more interesting stories to tell.
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As an Irish person, I have no problem with “boss”. It’s a fairly non-committal greeting in Dublin, as in “Alright boss?”
As for “Sir”, again, as an Irish person, I detest it. It stinks of colonialism and Catholic school. I find it extremely condescending, but I live in the U.S. where it’s overused by everybody, so I just have to get over it.
It seems like one person’s offense has to be everyone’s offense these days.
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Yes, this was really the end of my ability to tolerate Sedaris. After Ira Glass basically plucked an obscure writer out of a coffee shop and made him a millionaire with a luxury flat in Paris who doesn’t need to work anymore, it’s hard to take his whining as anything other than privilege blind and tone deaf.
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And that, my good sir, is why I detest being called “Boss” too, because it’s almost always out of the mouths of young black men in the service industry, and we’re not on a plantation. If it’s someone I know I’m going to be seeing a lot of, like a new member of the housekeeping staff here, I introduce myself, learn their name, and then explain that I’d rather not be called “boss” by them because I see them and their work as being every bit as “important” as mine. And I’m sincere in this. If I think it’s a one-off encounter, I usually smile at them and say “Hey, I’m not the boss of you!”.
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That’s a great approach. Smile, say that, and follow with your name and a handshake.
I use “boss” strategically - with someone who’s been recently promoted whether I work for them or not, but especially if I’m working on a team where the power dynamic is flipped and I’m following someone that I’ve led before. It signals that I’m ready to work and they should take control of the task.
For non gendered group addresses, I use “folks.” I don’t hear that much from other people, and I think it sounds a little quaint and friendly (which is usually what I’m going for)
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