I find it irritating when patients call me it but not irritating enough to tell them to stop. If my divisional manager (male) started calling me sweetheart I would ask him to stop... but I'm sure he never would.
lol at magsmay. It moght just be better to say to the person "please don't call me that again because i don't like it" rather than complain of sexula harrassment
It's definitely sexual harassment and also condescending, not sure which is worse. You need to tell him to stop and mean it. If you let him get away with this, his next move will be to start calling you "babe" and we all know what that means. Personally, I'd go straight to HR and lodge an official complaint. You should read your company's policy on bullying and harassment, just don't let him get away with it.
When I lived in the Potteries for a while I was called 'duck' all the time. When I worked in Preston, Lancs I was called 'Love', even by the men. It was just accepted a s a regional term
I get called 'babes' by quite a few people on here and I've managed to live with it.
But in the work context a term such as 'sweetheart' can sound condescending and should be avoided , although it may just be okay if it's common regional parlance that's accepted generally by all employees.