If you want to sell to me, don't call me 'love'

Maybe not E-on but definitely electricity related. Perhaps they all go to the same cold-call training school.

It's all about context really. If you are having a friendly chat with someone in a local shop, perhaps, and he or she called you 'love', no problem. Nice and friendly even.

However, if you are speaking on the telephone to someone you have never met before and they switch from calling you by your first name without asking (my pet hate) to calling you 'love', it is completely unacceptable and unprofessional.

In my case, the caller did it in response to my rather cold response to the original call (it was after 8pm, I had just put Dd to bed and I hate evening cold calls - perhaps I am a bit unreasonable about this). He was clearly intending to sound demeaning, more or less saying 'calm down love, you're being hysterical'. (I wasn't shouting btw - just cold.)

Funny enough, I think it was E-on on that call too.

If it's from the fruit stall guy who calls everyone love or mate then I'll go along with it. Someone otherwise using formal English, no.

I do wonder what signals being an old person who gets called love by women who only otherwise use it for small children.

I've worked with chaps in industries where everyone is male and 'mate', where they've realised 'love' doesn't sound right because no-one else is called that, don't feel right calling a woman 'mate', and compromise with a lot of 'you' and 'me old China'. Or just gone ahead and used love, but been otherwise respectful and treating me as an equal. Unlike certain superficially-respectful colleagues. Words can indicate attitudes and influence actions, but the actions themselves are more important, IMO.

I think it's just a regional thing - ime experience such terms are used as equally from women to men as from men to women.

It doesn't worry me at all.

From a large company no, I wouldn't take it.

From individual tradesmen - well, I would have a choice of none if I refused to deal with people who call me "love" - apart from the younger generation who just call me by my first name.

No I hate this too and had a row once with a tele-sales man who did it to me. I would go out of my way not to spend money with a company which allows its representatives to take this chummy and patronising approach.

I don't think it's terribly professional to use first names or 'love', and I would be wondering whether he'd done it because I was a woman, or because they've been told to use an informal style. Men rarely call other men 'love', IME!

That said I use 'love' a lot myself, so sometimes you can hear that it's just part of someone's habits of speech.

I wouldn't like it either. In fact, I would hate it.

I wouldn't care - I would say "it is Mrs ByTheWay1 sweetheart " and laugh at him - if it is going to save me shed loads of money I'm not going to be precious about it...

Maybe its an "up North" thing (which i am). But its used a lot, its generally not meant to be patronising or sexist.

I quite like it...ive been called a lot worse.