“Good morning, Mike,” says Jose as he walks into the office. Pop quiz: Who is Jose talking to, his boss or his employee? In our current society, it’s a trick question—Mike could be either Jose’s boss or his employee. But not that long ago, it would be immediately clear that Mike was Jose’s employee, or at least his coworker, because no employee would call the boss “Mike.” He’d be “Mr. Smith.” Before about 1990, employees were virtually never on a first-name basis with the boss.
