As children we are taught to use Mr, Mrs, Miss. Or if the person is a close friend of our parents then it’s Aunt and Uncle.

But at what age do we get rid of the complex of using respect for our elders to call them by their first name?

Even now, I’m not entirely sure I should. As a person in my third decade here on earth, I show respect to everyone as long as they show it too. If they’re rude, screw you, otherwise I’m always polite, nice and respectful.

But is it disrespect to call an elder by their first name? Do you need their permission first? If they say, call me Cyn/Al/Mel then that’s fine. That’s what I’ll call you.

If it’s your boss, respect is in order, especially in the workplace. But what about after work, or on Facebook, where we’ve all read stories about bosses friending their workers?

Sounds so icky and wrong really.

Do we just start calling them by their name, wait till they tell us to, or use the addage I thought of, if they call YOU by your first name then call them by theirs? If they don’t like it and tell you to call them Mr/Mrs then tell them ”then it’s Ms Diva!”  (insert your own name of course unless you go around being called Ms Diva).

Or do we keep the Mr/Ms for work and use their name afterwards?

I’m still not sure. It’s different with people your own age, first names are fine but when it comes to my ”elders” who aren’t always so nice and respectful, (but that’s a whole other bitch for a whole other day!!! The amount of rude old farts I’ve come across *mumble, mumble*) what the hell do we call them besides aggravating old fart?