To find ‘dear sirs’ infuriating?

[sirstheword]

Sending emails back and forth with someone at work, another professional whom we do work with regularly.

I have a very obviously female name, we have spoken on the phone several times and I don’t think I sound Male, yet every email he addresses the email as ‘dear sirs’ the emails are just me to him, no one else is CC’d in.

Is this normal? Would you comment on it?

It’s (perhaps irrationally) infuriating me.

That's incredibly annoying! I'd email back and at the end if the email, I'd just say so etching like

Just to note, I've noticed you referring to me as 'dear sirs', it's fine to call me Sarah (or whatever your name is) in future emails.

It would (and does) annoy me but not to the point of commenting on it. I might change my signature to Regards rather than Kind Regards though.

I wouldn't find "Dear Sirs" on an initial email particularly annoying (it's a bit outdated but...meh). It IS annoying however if you have already signed your name on previous correspondence.

I would find it hard not to say something. Tell him you find it offensive.

YANBU! My organisation only has a few of us working there, all women, and some people insist on putting 'Dear Sirs' on every email. People who contact us know us well so know that there aren't any men. I find it utterly infuriating, and think it's pretty rude. I don't know why anyone thinks it's a reasonable way to start an email; it's a profession that relies on good communication as well.

Dear Sirs/Yours faithfully is old school.

It is meant to depersonalise tbe correspondence . We use "Dear Sir or Madam" at our place.

I was taught that it should be Dear Sir/Madam,
If you want to be formal. I'd send your next reply with that as the opener and see what happens.

Yeah but, they’ve been corresponding several times already, they’ve spoken on the phone, he knows her name. No need to keep saying Dear Sir or Madam forever!

All my solicitor correspondence when I moved house was Dear Sirs, even though both I and my solicitor are female.

It's tripe.

Sirs is taken to be unisex now. It is annoying that he is just using an email template every time he contacts you when he knows your name and it wouldn't take long to delete 'sirs' and type your first name but I don't think 'sirs' is sexist.

Write Dear Madam everytime you reply to him.

If I know my recipient I might move to Dear Ms [whatever]/Yours sincerely.

It's actually the correct term to use when writing a letter to someone you don't know the name of. Along with yours faithfully to close.

He shouldn't be using it if he knows your name. Dear sirstheword is what he should be using. He should also sign off Yours sincerely.

Personally, I don't like sir/madam because I know it's wrong.

YeAh, correct in like 1957 or something - but maybe we could, shock horror, change the rules now it’s nearly 2020.

Back in the day, we would use Dear Sirs but put For the attention of [name] as part of the bolded out subject line.

I work in a small office with two men. We have one client who address all emails "Dear Sirs" even though it's almost always me that has any correspondence with her.
Slightly irritating, especially as we are on a first name basis and I address my emails to her personally.

Are you in law?

Are they foreign? That might explain it ...

That’s a really weird thing to do. Dear sirs is appropriate either when you are
a) unsure of who you are addressing
b) addressing multiple people who you are not familiar with (if you are familiar it should be hi all or similar).
c) when the other person does it.

If in doubt you should always address as the person has signed. E.g. if they’ve signed Charlie you call them Charlie, if Charles then Charles, if Mr. Boot then Mr. Boot.

Hold on. Unless this person is a solicitors from a different firm/barrister? If that’s the case then their official correspondence will be dear sirs (but not their casual emails). It’s a convention peculiar (as far as I am aware) to the legal profession.

Dear sirstheword is what he should be using. He should also sign off Yours sincerely.

If writing Dear Sirs then it should be Your faithfully, you only use 'Sincerely' when you use a name.

OP, clearly you should start addressing all your emails to him as 'Dear Madams'.

Haha - not law!

Loving some of the suggestions and very tempted to address the next one ‘dear madam’ to see if he takes the hint!

I work in the legal profession and we do use dear sirs quite a bit. I was set to say YWBU. Then I read you have spoken to him.

I think it is very odd and inappropriate to continue to address you as dear sirs.

I would definitely be saying please call me XYZ.

I never write to anyone on first name terms, although they try it with me. I'm "Dear Ms/Yours sincerely" or "Dear Mr/Yours sincerely " once I know the sex of the person I am writing to.