I call people hon, and I've barely broken the 20s barrier... I never realized people might find it offensive! Thinking about it, I don't do it that often, and not usually with people I don't know.
Girl bothers me more than Hon; honestly, I can't see it being used as non-derogatory in most cases. (The exceptions I can think of are things like 'you go girl!' or other sayings between friends.) If someone I didn't know called me 'girl', I'd be pissed.
I find 'miss' or 'sir' to be my generic "I don't know your name" tag, especially when dealing with customers or older folks (older being anyone older than me!).
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