To not agree to pretend to my company that I don’t know what a man or woman is?

Good! It’s a ridiculous and unnecessarily dictatorial policy. I hope you get to tell them to get stuffed and then get a job with a much better company.

Can't you just say I have checked

My word, yes totally ridiculous! The majority of people are just simply he/she and those who wish to be addressed by a different pronoun usually state this. Having to change the whole grammatical construction of a language to appear to show accommodation for a minority isn't what they want anyway. To be aware and accept preferred pronouns is, from my observation, what is being asked for, not to address everyone by them. Batshit!

No, you just sound utterly ridiculous because the important grammatical aspect you left out is that it is only relevant to use singular ‘they’ if you don’t know a persons sex. So if you were sat in front of your doctor or even glimpsed postie through the window, you just sound weird if you claim you can’t tell what sex they (plural) are.

If you are really stuck, ask your dog (or your neighbours dog) - as it will be able to tell even if a person if trying to disguise their sex.

Sorry wrong thread 😂

I'm stocky and have short hair, kiss think I'm a bloke all the time. Couldn't care less.

And yet, as someone with chronic sinusitis I’ve been pretty frequently misgendered / named but people who failed to distinguish between raspy and male. So while you may have superior powers of perception, those powers aren’t universal. Hence why the guidance exists.

Yes but... I don't identify as "they" so you're misgendering me by using it...

Would it be useful or acceptable to read one sentence of your notes back to the client so they can agree with your summary of the situation and have the opportunity to voice any errors about pronouns at the same time? Eg: ‘So Michael, I’ve written here in my notes that ‘Michael has explained his internet is not working and has requested we send the maintenance team to fix it as soon as possible.´Hopefully that does the trick and it’ll all be sorted for you shortly. Is there anything else you wanted to ask about today?’
This would not be the right approach for a group with lots of people who identify as non binary or trans but for a client base where this almost never comes up it might do the job of unobtrusively confirming pronouns and so negate the need for singular ´they’ constantly.

Now they/them is often seen as an identity under the umbrella of gender then using they/them IS misgendering if you prefer she/her or anything else for that matter. They are bigots!

I would invite them to try and see how far they get.

Hence why it’s generally easiest to go non specific.

It’s really standard in many documents and records now.

Equally, records generally are expected to be contemporaneous- so if person said he for that interaction records can reflect that even if say she next time. Although makes for a confusing read whereas they stays consistent.

But the problem is, you would actually have to ask every time you made a note.

How are you confirming their choice?

A d going back and changing them is crazy, because what if the person finds out you are calling them he, when they wanted to be she in July.

You are being unreasonable.

There is a company policy approach to record keeping. You need to follow it.

That includes (quite reasonably) not using any information which has not been confirmed.

Organised a conference recently. Pushed by marketing to have a load of He / She button badges for people to take. Approx 300 no idea the cost . No body did

It’s over-thinking it. Most people either know a ‘Sam’ or ‘Tony/i’ or whoever well enough to know their sex. If speaking face to face it’s obvious 99% of the time. If really unsure in conversation or over email I would double check by asking: can I just double check if that’s Samantha of Samuel? As people have managed to navigate using common sense easily for years before all this nonsense started. I actually have a gender neutral abbreviated first name myself, but my Mrs is part of my email, so it’s obvious.

Thats fine, but then in the normal world you wouldn’t carry on referring to Sam as they.

But why would someone be saying they had seen Sam in hospital if the other person didn’t already know who Sam was?

The grammar thing. I think they and their is fine if you don't know the sex.

For example
P1) I saw Sam the other day in hospital
P2) oh, are they okay?
P1) yes, he was just visiting his aunt
What would you use?

Best thing to do is change them every day and make HR go through the nonsense and be hugely offended when they try to suggest you're taking the piss...and quite their policies at them.

I work in the NHS and have absolutely refused to collude with any of this bullshit. They can't sack me for this so they can get stuffed.

Has anyone ever come up with rubbish pronouns and been allowed? or is it only they/them that is permitted (which of course goes against the whole point of choosing pronouns). I'd like to challenge them and ask to referred to as it/its or our/ours just to see if it sticks and to annoy HR. Or better still, say I don't agree with pronouns as a concept and would like to be referred to as my chosen nickname only - 'spiderman' , 'toilet roll' etc

I think the wfh dynamic is giving more licence to this nonsense. If this was introduced at a large meeting or conference people would probably start laughing and raise hands to present these different scenarios, highlighting the madness of it all.

I hate bad grammar. Then/ they/ their as singular pronouns do not make sense. It’s as simple as that!