Sirred on the phone - see their side

People go through a lot of angst about being gendered on the phone.

How many have literally (not figuratively) jumped down someones throat because they said 'Thank you, sir.'

It's easy to do. Some of it may be vindictive and mean but much of it isn't.

Imagine yourself as a telemarketer. You have a list of people to call and you fight rejection and hostility with each one.

"Hello. May I speak to Aj Gregpahkklin."

"Hello. May I speak to Joe Jones."

"Hello. May I speakto Pat Patterson."

Rejection each time. You fall into a mantra for each one, like verbal mail-merge document.

They get to you.

"Hello. May I speak with An Barlow?"

This is she. (Your voice is a bit low that day. The marketer is excited because you are the first call in an hour that hasn't threatened her childrens lives. All she has to go on is your voice and name. They have gendered you in their mind now. You have a hole to dig out of.)

"GoodafternoonsirIwascallingtoprovideyouwithawonderfulopportunitytocleanyour
carpetsandincludedinthisofferisacomplementarycatdunkingdoesn'tthatsound
wonderfuljustkiddingaboutthecathahaha(breathe)..."

It's Ma'am.

"Sorryaboutthatsirwehaveyouscheduledfornextthursdayat3amwillthatworkforyo..."

Stop calling me SIR!

Now, the average person would have hung up by now. But you get hung up on one work. You have brought attention to the error and therefore brought yourself under further scrutiny.

There is no winning in this situation. Your best bet is to have a really good phone answering phrase so you are correctly gendered right away.

Also, don't get sucked into an argument with someone you don't even want to talk to anyway.