In Maddox Smye's Selling to Women workshops, it never fails--there's always a sales professional who will comment that his mother raised a gentleman, and "Ma'am" is how he demonstrates respect. I've heard facilitators reiterate that using "Ma'am" is tantamount to verbally taking a woman by the arm and helping her across the street, but some guys remain unconvinced. "Ma'am" underscores age. No woman wants to be thought of as old. No woman wants to be called "Ma'am."

Here's what Sharon Glassman, who writes for The Huffington Post, has to say about "Ma'am":

"...three letters and a squiggle that I loathe beyond measure. The "polite term for women" that so does not describe the spiritually youthful, if age-accomplished, Me...Am I the only XX chromosomed here who hates being Ma'am-o-grammed by cute young guys behind registers...is "Ma'am" not the antithesis of hotness? (W)hen the grandfatherly guy at PetSmart M'am-ed me last week...(h)is words felt like hell...Ma'am is a contraction of Madam, my logical mind knows. That fact could be reassuring, if I were French brothel-managing. Ma'am is a palindrome...But if someone's going to palindromitize me, I'd prefer to be addressed with the more universally-exultant, Wow."

If that doesn't register, maybe the fast food chain's commercial where the woman bristles at being called "Ma'am" and fumes through her lunch, muttering about the fact that she's become a "Ma'am" should change some minds.

It ends with someone calling her "Miss." "That's more like it," she smiles. Just another example that Ma'am should be relegated to the trash heap, and a "Miss" is as good as a smile.