I remember lifting a garage door above my head and onto the trailer. I was on the job at a warehouse. It was my second job since leaving Cracker Barrel. I handed the man the paperwork to sign. He grabbed a pen I held out towards him and signed his name and the date.

“Thank you,” I said, grabbing the paper back from him. “Thanks buddy,” the man said.

Have you ever felt disrespected? Or maybe you didn’t feel like you got the proper attention you deserved. Whatever the reason, we’ve all felt like we’ve been treated like less at one point or another.

One of the words that is often used to describe people of lesser status is the word “buddy”. While in the past buddy used to mean a friend or equal, it has started to mean something less than that.

For example I call my little 6 year old brother “buddy”. When he’s all grown up into a man I’m not going to keep calling him that. Simply put, most grown people don’t like being called buddy because when you do, it shows the opposite of respect.

As a younger person I’ve been called buddy a few times by older men. While I don’t like the way it sounds I try to shrug it off as nothing more than a poor choice of words.

When you understand how certain words make you feel, you can watch out for how you use them with others. For example I no longer call people who I view as less responsible as buddy. It’s just not nice.

Whether we realize it or not, calling others buddy can come across as disrespectful and sometimes even a little demeaning. So next time you decide to call someone buddy, be aware of how it comes across.