13 Subtle Behaviors That Instantly Kill Your Credibility—Are You Guilty of These Condescending Moves?
7. Demeaning nicknames like “Chief” or “Honey”
Overly familiar, one-size-fits-all nicknames-especially from people you interact with in a professional capacity-are generally not a good look. This is particularly true for condescending people in positions of authority. While a male boss might think calling his subordinate “chief” is a way of being chummy, or rubbing elbows with the little people, it tends to come across with a patronizing tone. A woman boss might think she’s being approachable or motherly by calling her female employees “honey” or “sweetie,” but that can lead to a sense of false familiarity that makes it difficult for employees to speak frankly. Plus, those nicknames are almost always gender-exclusive; a male boss isn’t going to call his female employee “chief” (and hopefully in 2022 he knows not to call any woman besides his wife “honey”). So the chummy nicknames most people find condescending end up being pretty exclusionary, too.
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