Excuse Me... Sir?

It is not uncommon for me to hear this phrase several times per day.  In some settings, I can (almost) understand it.  For example, my work uniform is largely unflattering to my figure.  I’m forced to wear an over-sized, blue polo shirt that hides my chest.  I spend most of my time at work behind the customer service counter, so one is generally unable to see I am wearing women’s pants, pants worn snug enough to notice the lack of a “bulge” caused by external genitalia.  So I get it, at quick glance, my appearance can be misleading.  However, my features and mannerisms are not masculine and my voice is certainly not, as it takes on even a higher pitched quality when being professional.  In all honesty, the only characteristic about me that IS masculine, is my haircut.  And this is enough to confuse the masses.

Outside of work, my attire is more revealing, less obscuring of certain swells.  Yesterday, I made an excursion to a festival in Central Florida.  Florida being what it is, the weather was mostly sunny and a balmy 88 degrees.  I chose to wear plaid shorts (albeit men’s shorts, because I don’t feel my ass needs to eat my clothing as I parade around in public) and a small camisole top that definitely accentuated my natural assets.  In short, I had cleavage and plenty of it.  Also, I have almost no visceral fat (fat on my body is found mainly in my thighs, another driving factor in deciding to wear men’s shorts) so my C cup tits are prominently displayed above my (nearly) washboard abs.  However, more times than not, when addressed by strangers, I was referred to as “sir.”  Really?  Are you that unobservant, that ridiculously ignorant, that you make judgments based on one quality, one physical characteristic even when countless others, in plain and obvious sight, are contradictory?

I am both amused and clearly bothered by this consistent slip of the tongue; so I thought about it some, and I thought about it some more.  Daily, in every meeting, every situation, we are bombarded by input.  Our minds are fantastic in their ability to take it all in and file it away into relevant/necessary and irrelevant/unnecessary folders.  When we walk up to someone, we do see all of them.  We see their hair style and color, their eye color, their skin color, whether or not they’re wearing makeup, body type, the style, fit and color of clothing, and even the scenery around them.  All of this input is then used to gauge the situation, gauge the person and make decisions and judgments accordingly.  Well, not all of the input is always used.  It seems, many times, we can hyper-focus on one bit of information and use that to formulate our reaction, without considering all of the facts.  It concerns me that as technology develops, humanity, in general, seems to lose the ability to think.  We are relying more and more on our devices and less and less on our intellect.  Common sense is quickly becoming a thing of the past.  It all makes me frightened for my son, and the world he will live in one day… A day where I’ll probably be playing Angry Birds in my nursing home and the orderly will come in and say to me “Ok sir, it’s time for your nap…”