I'm not "beautiful", or a "hottie", or your "love", or "sweet heart", or your "baby". I'm just a woman who wants to get her work done.
I had just started a job that required me to speak to a large number of clientele.
 When I first started, I used to talk to the clients in a very professional manner, saying "sir" and "mister", and I would find them replying with things like, "Sure, beautiful," and "Yes, love."
I was honestly surprised, but I thought perhaps I had just called a client or two who were being a bit “friendly”.
I discovered with time, however, that this was the norm.
All clients spoke like that, regardless of whether I was speaking to an old or young man, a manager, or even an intern.
They all spoke in a really flirty way.
All this was over the phone.
So they never actually got to see me to know whether I was good looking or not, young or old.
They knew nothing about me.
They never kept the phone calls strictly professional.
They had to make some sort of joke, try to be funny, or at least end the phone call with "Bye, my love".
Your love? Do I even know you?!
I thought it was me; maybe I unintentionally sounded a little coquettish.
But when I told my friends, I discovered that they all suffered from the same thing. At times, it would even progress from just flirting to imprudence.
"Girl, we get that all the time", they'd laugh.
They all took it as a given, or as one of the many problems at work that they had to deal with.
This girl I know once received a call from a client at midnight. "Hi baby, any news?" he asked. He was asking about something completely trivial.
 
Another girl I know once received a phone call from a client at 5:00 am. She didn't pick up, of course, but he still tried to call her every other day around 4:00 or 5:00 am.
Till now, she has no idea what he wanted.
When I asked her if she found it strange that a client would act that way,
she said, "There's a bad reputation surrounding girls who work in publicity and advertising."
One time, a friend of mine had a meeting with an important client—a manager of some sort—who was old.
He took her number that day and has been calling her every night ever since.
He usually talks about nothing in particular and asks her what she’s wearing. If she doesn’t pick up, he texts her.
Some girls see this as normal, and they don't think too much about it. They assume that the clients only mean to be friendly. They also don't want to be seen as too "uptight".
Sorry, but the bottom line is, uptight or not, as long as I don't call you "my love, my life, or babe", please don't call me "baby" or "darling."
*performed in:
- BuSSy 2010 - Cairo