People sometimes refer to female employees in a retail store as "the lady behind the store counter" or people sometimes randomly use the term "lady" to refer to women. Example: "The lady ahead of me in the check-out line."
I've not heard male employees at a retail store referenced as gentleman as in "the gentleman behind the store counter." Instead, it is usually "the man behind the store counter."
People say gentleman or gentlemen all the time. It especially irks me when people say it to replace the words male or man, such as when referring to a suspect in a felony crime or a convicted felon. The word gentleman carries an air of respect and respectability to it, so it should never be used lightly.
“The thrice-convicted serial murderer is the same gentleman whose DNA was recently discovered to be connected to the assaults in a cold case that has languished for 17 years without being solved.”
“I saw a car stopped just outside the store that got robbed, and a gentleman with a gun ran out to it, shooting at the clerks and customers as he went. When he jumped into the passenger seat, the gentleman who was driving almost ran over several pedestrians when he used the sidewalks to get past the police cars blocking the exits.”
End of rant.
:(
