Dear Prudence,
I’m the youngest employee at a small company. One of our location managers is difficult to deal with and often resists collaboration and cooperation. To top it off, she is very saccharine-sweet and has a tendency to call me diminutive nicknames, especially when I’m leading a project. I’m higher-ranking than she is, though she is my mother’s age. I feel this might be a manifestation of her discomfort with my position, and I am getting less patient with being called “angel” or “sweetheart” while I’m trying to work out project details. It makes me uncomfortable. I have a name, and it’s not “baby girl.” Is this something I should just let go? I don’t want it to boil into resentment, but I can’t find a way to gently ask her to stop calling me those names without looking cold-hearted.