I very seriously never, ever want to be addressed as "Mrs." Not even Mrs. [my own name]. (Which I kept when J and I got married.) I don't really like Miss or Mz. either, but I get very irritated with Mrs. in particular. My marital status has nothing to do with my interactions with the world unless I want it to. It's so frustrating that there's this insistence that I must label myself with my marital status in order to be addressed. Like, it doesn't bug me when my friends/family use it affectionately, or to reference my husband in a cute way. That's not only fine, it's endearing to me. But it makes my skin crawl when people from outside of those circles, especially strangers, try to address me by what they *assume* about me. Like...is my home/family life somehow relevant to our interaction here?? No. Ugh. I'm just rambling because I had a customer be super gross and creepy to me at the restaurant tonight. This guy kept insisting that I tell him my full name, even though I repeated several times, "Just Elizabeth is fine." "No really, is it Mrs... What? Or Miss? What are you called?" "I go by Elizabeth, I like to be called Elizabeth." "Yeah, but how would I mail you a letter? Or ask for you on the phone?" "If you call the number here and ask for Elizabeth, they'll know who I am! It wouldn't be a problem." "Well, like, what if I was calling you at home?? Are you Mrs. Elizabeth something something?" "No really, just Elizabeth is great for me. Just like we're friends." (I said with the most forced smile ever, tightly gripping the utensils I had just cleared off the table.) It was just a nasty way of trying to hit on me/check if I'm single and it felt so intrusive (and vaguely threatening...he kept saying he was going to call or mail me at home???) So that was this whole other can of worms, dealing with gross people who get creepy with their server because we're not allowed to tell them to fuck off and leave us alone, but it made me think about why him specifically asking about my "title" bugged me almost as much as him just being a nasty creepy ass who enjoys making trapped people feel uncomfortable. Blegh. I hate the position my job puts me in.