"The man"

Recently it has dawned upon me that I must be getting older, not just this but looking older as well. This is mainly due to the frequency of how often I am referred to as "the man". At work, hardly a shift goes by without a mother saying to their child "give your money to the man" or "say thank you to the man". I am quite often travelling on a train when a parent will say to her children "mind the man" or "quiet down, you will disturb the man".

Dara O'Briain did a terrific stand up routine on being used as a threat by other people. When a mother says to her noisy child "quiet down, you are disturbing the man" he should perhaps glare at the child, if the threat is used again he should perhaps growl and on a third time get up and bash the child around shouting "you were warned, the man is disturbed and now you must pay for I, am the man." Obviously this is probably not what I would do, as "the man", if I were to be disturbed. When I am at work, I work on the bakery and patisserie so have a lot of mothers and children so a lot of "the man" takes place. At first I would look puzzled at being referred to as the man because in my own head I am about 14 so still very much not the man. Now it has become commonplace so I am used to it, but I still feel I have to live up to the title so puff out my chest and speak in a very deep voice "thank you for this money in exchange for your gingerbread man, here is your change, I am the man". I don't really, but in my head I do.

One thing I forgot to mention about where I work is how freaked out I get when strangers call me by my name. When they say thank you it is often accompanied by my name. I get a lot of this but have still not got used to all the "Thank you Joe"s. Every now and then it occurs to me that I am wearing a name-badge, I am still suspicious of them all.