To think I must come across as childlike?

[whylikethiss]

I'm 29, and think I look my age. I think this because I don't get ID'd when buying razors or medication (I don't drink, smoke or go clubbing so have never had to have my ID checked for anything else lol). Also because if I mention that I'm at university people seem surprised until I mention I'm retraining.

However, today I went shopping alone and noticed how I felt like I was being talked to like I was young/a child. For example, I was in Sally's and know exactly what I was looking for so headed straight there. The cashier said 'hello darling, do you need any help?', she was probably around my age which I wouldn't expect for her to call me 'darling'. Then I was in Boots paying on the self-service checkout and struggled to scan an item for probably 10 seconds before the lady came over and said something like 'here sweetie, let me help you. There you are, sweetheart'. The same sort of thing happened in a third shop.

It's not necessarily the pet names said in these examples, but more the way it was said. It's the way I would speak to a child. I am more of a reserved/quiet kind of person so I wonder if I'm somehow projecting some kind of childlike-ness?

It's just the way some people express themselves.

@whylikethiss instead of looking at it negatively try looking at it positively. Sounds like the people who served you went out of their way to be kind to you. I love it when people call me pet names and I am not patronised at all. I feel like someone has gone out of their way to be nice to me in a world that's pretty shocking at the moment.

That's just my opinion for what's it's worth.

I agree with this.

If you are 29 years old and look your age, you probably don't look like a child.

You were struggling, they did their job by helping you. Why overthink it on such a scale?!

Stealth boast quite frankly

But enjoy it while you can, peri menopause will have you looking 80 when you're only 49 believe me.

Yabu

They were just being friendly/doing their job. I had something similar happen to me the other day, I'm 35 and I look it, you're completely overthinking it

Shop assistants speak to me in exactly the same tone. I am nearly sixty. They don't think you're a child, they are just being friendly.

My grandad laughs about how young people call her sweetheart and similar, and how 'in her day' it was only older people who called younger people those kind of pet names. She likes it, but she's often 50+ years older than the other person, and certainly not because she looks childlike. Male cashier in my local corner store always calls me bab or sweets, he is at a guess 19 or 20.

Grandma! Not grandad. I don't have any of those sadly.

Agree that some people just speak this way. I’m 34, look 40, have a resting bitch face and a cashier spoke to me like this just this morning.

What's sallys

I'm 32 and look 32 and at 6:30 in the morning look like a 32 year old pissed off shoebill and the barista who did my coffee this morning called me "my lovely".

It's just how some people talk.

I'm 45 and people still talk to me like this in shops sometimes so think it's just how some shop workers (especially female ones) talk...

Quite nice really.

I’ve always had this and now in my 50’s I still get people being protective over me

I’m small, have a soft voice and temperament and was what some might call girly (I’m certainly not now) I think I just had a vulnerability about me even though I have always been very independent

when I was pregnant I never recognised the stories of people not standing up on busy buses/tubes, when ds was little people helped me with buggy down the stairs etc

I don’t mind it it’s nice and I can look quite moody at times so it’s quite surprising 😊

It's a beauty salon supply shop that's open to Jo Public.

Why does it matter how people see/interpret you?