Honey

In one of the WhatsApp groups, there was an offer on getting a free mask. So I contacted the number and asked for a free mask. The unusual thing was the person addressed me as honey (or cayang). I found it funny, but since the mask is coming from a formal institution, many of my friends reached out to me saying that the greeting was improper. After getting many messages, I started to ask myself whether I should feel offended by the greeting but I still could not see the mistake. People in the salon or in online shop like to call their customers with honey as well, so I think the call is acceptable. Some others argued that it's improper because the one distributing mask affiliates with a formal institution so it's better to have a formal reply. But had been working as an admin myself, I know how boring a standardized response would be. Having people responded with a smile or thank you could really made my day, especially since there were people who think getting responses from an admin were their rights. 

On the other hand, since I traveled to many places, I received many calling, 'sweety' (from flight attendant), 'honey' (from salon or online shops), 'sister' (when I went to department store), 'beautiful' (random), and catcalling (when I passed random guys in a bad neighborhood). Apart from the last one, I could accept the others. What annoyed me is people started to judge me and asked to many personal questions on first meeting. I considered it as an invasion to my personal space.

Do I have to speak up more? Or should I be offended? My golden rule is to think that people are naturally nice. So the first thing I do when I get a strange response is to rationalize it in my mind and assumes that it was only a cultural difference. I will argue when I feel threatened (which rarely happened).