'Honey'' Usage Question?

Question

my friend (he's from Europe, white in his 20s) was in the U.S. a while ago and went to a diner a few times. A woman there (in her late 40s, most likely), kept calling him ''honey'' and ''sweetie'' every time he entered the diner. He did not know how to respond and found it polite, but kept wondering if it's not giving him some sort of emasculating treatment at the same time. To be fair, he does have a bit of feminine features, but nothing in-your-face. So, what do you think? Was it just politeness or was that also a show of dominance, some sort of weird flirt, maybe? Cheers!

Answer 1

It was likely to be neither. I was treated in this manner by female waitstaff until I was over 50 years old. What your friend is seeing is a kind of matronly friendliness, and certainly with nothing intended as far as flirting or commenting on your friend's appearance. I always treated this as a way of waitstaff making me feel more at home - literally! :-)