K8 the GR8

I believe that if you give respect, most of the time you’ll get it back, hopefully with tips!  I’m trying to teach this to my kids but there’s no way to explain this in pre-schoolspeak, so I lead by example.

The thing is, I’m having problems.  I came home after a work shift recently, exclaiming that men don’t like to be called ‘Sir’ anymore.

“You call them Sir?!” Xboxboy seemed more than surprised.

“Yes, if I don’t know their name, I’ll call them Sir.  Not all the time, just sometimes.”

“But you’re not below them!!!  Never call anybody Sir… it’s demeaning to everybody!”

“Eh?”

I don’t understand this, but it’s true.  Also, instead of calling my mechanic ‘Bert’, a few weeks ago I called him ‘Mr. Byrne’, and he was horrified.   He instantly exclaimed “Jeeeeesus stop!  Mr. Byrne is my father’s name!”.  This is a strangely common occurance among men of all ages… they evade chivalry as though it were an insult.  Did I miss something?

Can somebody please explain to me why ‘Chivalry is dead’, or ‘So-and-so is the last true gentleman’, or ‘Kids have no respect for their elders these days’ are all such common gripes of adults today when all they need to do is accept a bit of respect?

My kid is watching me and learning that the word ‘Sir’ evokes a similar reaction to the word ‘Shit’.  Such surprise and chastisement her mother gets!  Better not do that so.

So what do I do now?