Miss Lass and Ma'am-ing

I've recently started rewatching Downton Abbey.

It's a shockingly well done PBS show about life of an Earl and his family in the last 1910s.  (Earls are low-end nobility of England- equivalent of a Marquis in France)

Anyway, what I really notice about the production, besides the costumes and the attention to set detail, is how everyone addresses each other as "Mr." and "Miss" and "Mrs.".

I really miss that (ha, no pun intended).  Where have all of the manners gone in America?  What is it with people with whom you're not familiar addressing you by your first name?  It's just rude.  I remember in German class how it was taught to be very rude, still, to address people in the familiar without actually being familiar with them.

I have taken to correcting people now- "You may call me Mrs. Lass, please".  A lot of times, it just shocks them into silence, especially telemarketers because they're just reading a script.

Along the same lines, is the American "Ma'am"ing.  Honestly, people, don't "Ma'am" someone unless they obviously a senior, senior citizen.  It's just dishearting to be called "Ma'am" when you're in your 20s.

That's when it happened to me- my first "Ma'am"ing.  I started to walk off without my receipt from a store and the cashier said, "Ma'am, you're receipt".

What a lousy day that was.

My advice to all of you in similar situations:  we're all "Miss" unless we have so much gray hair and a walker that you can't go wrong "Ma'am"ing us.

Still, I guess I prefer the "Ma'am"ing to strangers addressing me by my first name.