First of all, that’s exactly what happened to me at work (with my old boss) who called me Cynthia for about 2 months — I didn’t care — he did finally switch. Second, pronouns are a real problem in the education system where students change their pronouns often (depending on their mood) sometimes up to several times a day — please check out the latest research papers on this — it’s causing a lot of struggle to teachers/lecturers/professors. Third, I have been the object of abuse, right off the bat (as you put it) because I didn’t realise that this woman wanted to be called they/them and when I said that I didn’t realise (because the change was made only a few days earlier) I was accused of lying because apparently, everybody is now “suppose to check people’s pronouns before they start addressing that person — it’s being a sensitive human being” — then, proceeded to call me a bigot and a homophobe. This incident is what has motivated me to write this article in the first place.