Who do you call sir [or ma'am] when you are out of uniform?

Military wise - I call all officers who outranked me (assuming I know who they are/or their rank) sir/ma'am, unless they ask me to call them by another title. In dealing with civilians - I tend to call all adult men & women "ma'am & sir". I don't necessarily believe it's been my military upbringing that's taught me to do so, as much as it's just me being born in the South, from a Southern family. It could be stereotyping - but it does seem that Southerners tend to be more cordial than their Northern neighbors. I just remember having my mother or grandmother correct me as a young lad if I was out of line - which included talking to adults at inappropriate times or not calling them sir/ma'am if I didn't know who they were..

If I don't know you and you're not wearing a military uniform for me to recognize rank, I am calling someone sir or ma'am.

We has service members should always act in a professional manner and give everyone respect so that we may give honor and a good name to the military

Where I come from it's just good manners to call folks Sir/Ma'am if you do not have another term of address for them....btw this is regardless of age.....i call folks I know are younger than me Sir/Ma'am just as quickly as I do those older.....by extension this would fall onto anyone in the service as well regardless of their rank. Now, when in civilian clothes (all a retiree wears), if I do happen to know someone's name and rank I refer to them by that unless asked to do otherwise. While I was active duty officers were always sir or ma'am......or rank if I knew it.....but never first name.

I feel like it depends on the individual who is high ranking, not so much the respect of the subordinate "lacking." If you make a good name for yourself while in uniform, I think people will respect you out of uniform much more. I would NEVER expect someone to call me sir out of uniform if I was a bag of smashed booty while IN uniform. Sure, I am in a "positional" leadership position to everyone who passes me. However, I am not a pinnacle leader (you would know exactly what I mean if you have read the five levels of leadership by John Maxwell), and therefore do not expect positional respect while out of uniform. It is my duty to build my name and produce for my unit, and for someone who doesn't know me very well.....well.....im just a guy. I think it is important to use sir or mam regardless of uniform, however saluting is a bit much. I think it's cheesy.

Honestly I call everybody Sir or Ma'am out of uniform. Even civilians. Just how I was raised. Show of Respect. Even if I don't particularly like/respect the person, as a respect for those around them and myself, I keep it professional and keep good manners.

LTC Stephen F.
Anybody I am conducting business with and anyone who is older than me. It's the way I was raised.

In my present position I use those terms for everyone, when I was in the military - it was for all higher ranking commissioned officers. If I come across a military member these days I use their rank as well.

When respect is granted or earned I say sir or ma'am. However my tone does change a bit when its time to start removing that respect.

Who do you call Sir/Ma'am when out of uniform?
The simple answer is- if you know the person is an officer, regardless if you are in or out of uniform, the policy states you will render a salute and address the officer as Sir/Ma'am. When I was a soldier we went by this simple rule; when in doubt, flip it out! Done deal! HOOAH!