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I live in the north, and I heard that people say in the south that kids and people say sir and ma'am to respect he elders, I feel like crap and not wanting to do it, is this a "have to do it in America thing?" Please someone try to explain on how I should deal with this, it's killing me.
Don't worry, it won't kill you. Don't do it if you don't want to. I'm Australian and no-one here uses those terms as a matter of course, although "Ma'am" is unfortunately becoming a fashion with service staff and I don't like it, I ask them to call me by my first name because I'm not the queen.
I wasn't raised to say it either. Neither were the kids in my town. We all just called people mister or miss. I learned to say sir and ma'am it when I got a job and now saying it has stuck with me. It catches people by surprise. Some like the politeness, smile, or thank me. Some get offended because I somehow made them feel old or misinterpreted their gender. Anyway, you don't have to do it. You're not missing out on anything awesome.
:)
I'm from Texas, and although I wasn't specifically raised to be that way I knew a lot of people who were. I've also spent a significant amount of time in the Deep South where it really is a big thing, and I guess I picked it up. Good manner's helped a lot when I was in customer service.
I am from the south and it is indeed considered polite to say "sir" and "ma'am". I try to do this in order to be respectful. It is not hard to do.