Do They See Something?

[Drakanav]

When I go out, people will talk to me strangely by saying "sweetheart" or "darling". I once went out to Panera Bread with my mom, and a woman at the cashier said, "She's so precious", to my mom. I don't know if they notice anything, but it's getting a little creepy, as if they're talking to a child. Does anyone have the same situation and figured out why?

 

[BraidedPony]

I started getting called sweetheart by young people after I turned 60. But I like it.

 

[Tom]

Definitely not.

 

[inkfingers]

Maybe you just look really young and pretty? I honestly don't know. I've never had that problem. If anything, most people seem to not notice me.

 

[Mia]

Many Aspies tend to look younger than they actually are. A parent was (gleefully) carded for a seniors discount at the age of seventy four, the waitress didn't believe she was sixty-five.

It used to really annoy me when people talked to me as if I were younger than them, when I was often close to them in age.

 

[Judge]

I've always thought that sort of thing was more regionally based. Leave the Deep South and you may find folks to be somewhat less cordial in general. Then again perhaps you're just considered attractive in certain ways to older people. Whether it involves your looks or the way you might dress.

Though personally I kind of cringe at the thought of some 18-ish store clerk calling this old man "sweetie".

 

[clg114]

A nurse at our doctors office said that my wife and I were "cute". I am not sure what to think of that.

 

[rubicks52]

The same thing happens to me all the time. I also get tons of unsolicited shopping advice from random strangers ("if you want tomato sauce, you're just going to have to shove past those people, sweetie") and I've come to the conclusion that I look younger than I am and also maybe a bit clueless. Bright side though is that at bakeries and places like that, people give me free cookies pretty often.

 

[Drakanav]

Many Aspies tend to look younger than they actually are. My Mother was (gleefully) carded for a seniors discount at the age of seventy four, the waitress didn't believe she was sixty-five.

It used to really annoy me when people talked to me as if I were younger than them, when I was often close to them in age.

I’m 18, but others think I’m 12 or 13.
It might be half of the problem why it’s hard for me to make friends. They probably just see a pre-teen girl.

@Judge It may be a south-east thing. There’s a lot of nice people down here. Sometimes a little too nice, and too close.
But makes you feel as if the stranger is already your friend.

 

[Gryphacus]

Even though I still have a bit of a baby face, I’m extremely tall and wide and my default expression and beard make me look pretty intimidating, apparently. I do not have a problem with people commenting on my appearance, thankfully. I did when I was younger and obese, though.

I do have a bit of an opposite problem, I’ve scared the crap out of people simply by walking around a corner or while I’m on a bike. I feel absurdly self conscious when I see their faces with that expression.

 

[Fino]

I get this pretty often! I feel like I can feel them perceiving me as "special".

It happened just today at the bank! The ATM wouldn't take my cash so I went inside to deposit it and I left my card in the machine so it got eaten, and of course I said like a dozen random, awkward things throughout.

 

[Wolfnox]

Ive never had that happen to me. Ive studied and practiced the art of the blend. Also my expression and atitude seem to ward of such people. I think watching Batman in my younger years may have imprinted something.

 

[Misery]

At 37, I'm still referred to as a kid (as in, that actual word), and usually treated as if I am one. Try making sense of that.

No, I dont know why. And it's not just one person who does it too.... most will. I mean, really? What the hell are they seeing when they look at me? Does not compute.

Not that I actually mind, but still. There is no logic in this place.

 

[Progster]

It never happens to me, perhaps because of my tomboy style. I don't like it and don't understand it... I mean, why call a stranger 'honey', 'sweetie' or 'love'? Is that not a bit too intimate when you have no actual relationship with that person? To me, it just sounds patronising and a bit creepy. I would never call a stranger 'sweetie' or 'honey'. It really makes me feel uncomfortable.

 

[Streetwise]

I’m 18, but others think I’m 12 or 13.
It might be half of the problem why it’s hard for me to make friends. They probably just see a pre-teen girl.

@Judge It may be a south-east thing. There’s a lot of nice people down here. Sometimes a little too nice, and too close.
But makes you feel as if the stranger is already your friend.

Act old ,lie !!!!I dont have to :sciatica ,arthritis ,nerve damage ,hair greying ,but people still arent always kind about illness but remember they understand body language we just dont,If you get a lot of pain show it !!!!!!!!! ,use a walking stick it ages you .

 

[Suzanne]

I think they do "see" something. A lack of adultness. Hard to describe, but, I do not "act" as an adult.

Basically, even at the age of 49, I act like a child, mostly, even when doing "adult" things, like accounts and such like.

Goodness, just the other day, a young girl said, on finding out I have aspergers: well, you look great! I resisted the urge to ask: do ones on the autism spectrum look awful or something?

 

[SusanLR]

I didn't start getting all that until I got older, like seniour citizen older.
When people younger than me started calling me honey, sweetie, deary, M'am, I started thinking
darn, I'm looking older.
They certainly lay on those silly names in the southeast when you are seen as old.

 

[Streetwise]

I didn't start getting all that until I got older, like seniour citizen older.
When people younger than me started calling me honey, sweetie, deary, M'am, I started thinking
darn, I'm looking older.
They certainly lay on those silly names in the southeast when you are seen as old.

I like some of the names ,better than Lesbian shouted by a group of children as you bumble up the street,im traumatised to this day ,people always thought I was older ,passed for 18 at 15 seeing a company of wolves .

 

[Sherlock77]

My skin has always been quite soft and not all that aged... I also have a fairly long beard on the other hand, something that in general tends make a person look older...

 

[Tom]

I think it is, at least partially, regional culture. I used to hear terms like that frequently in South Carolina. I was told it was similar in Virginia. So I am guessing it is not the autism they are referring to.