I was just wondering about politeness levels...
Let's say I am shopping at a departmental store & meet a close friend (who is also my classmate) who works there as a shop assistant. As she is my close friend, we would naturally use casual speech to speak to each other on a daily basis. However, somehow, as I am a customer and she is a shop assistant, that would make me of a higher position than her. In that case, when in such a situation, will she end up having to switch to polite speech (or is it just not so casual speech) and would I switch to even more casual speech? Then let's say we decide to meet up after her work ends right after that, and when we speak, we will both switch back to casual speech? Does this sound strange? haha
I feel that the position of a shop assistant and customer can be quite fleeting because you are only a shop assistant say from 9am - 9pm (if that's their working hours) and you are their customer only if you come by while they are working. Does that mean how polite or casual we speak will change according to our shop assistant and customer role or as close friends?
Ok, another scenario I was wondering...Let's say I am a student and I just met a teacher. As I am not familiar with this person, I will use polite speech. However, I am a student and this person is also a teacher, I will have to speak even more politely? Is that how it works? Or is just polite speech enough?
