[geeks] Ms., Mrs., or other?

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Mon, 20 May 2002, Bill Bradford wrote:

> On Mon, May 20, 2002 at 05:59:54PM -0400, Joshua D Boyd wrote:
> > Dear $firstname is implies an awfully presumptuous amount of familiarity
> > with people who share only a single bay transaction with me.
> 
> You worry too much.

I'm with Josh on this one.  I don't tend to refer to people by their first
names initially, especially someone in a business (buying or selling)
situation.  Unless my customer says "Hi, I'm Rob" or something, and I
don't have anything else to go on, it's always $title $surname for the
first while.

After they sign the maintenance contract, it's $firstname. ;)

To my credit, though, I think that's the only bit of formality I actually
respect, and that's largely due to spending four years in a Lutheran
grammar school.

--Jonathan