Another perspective - the reason some of the situations above are inappropriate is not about the impact on you. Rather, it's because some of the examples are s

Another perspective - the reason some of the situations above are inappropriate is not about the impact on you. Rather, it's because some of the examples are situations where you are forced by law to interact with those people, and have no alternative. From my "libertarian" perspective, the situation with the police officer, judge at a trial, the teacher, and probably the doctor are clearly the most offensive, because the state gives them tons of power over me without me being able to get out of it. (The doctor situation is kind of dependent on how healthcare works in your country). The other examples are less clear cut. A waiter hitting on someone - no problem IMO (usual caveat here - it's still bad if persistent after rejection, done with pressure, etc). At work with co-workers - generally ok assuming it's done in a non-pressuring way, and there's no power imbalance (which wouldn't make it not-ok necessarily, again, depends on the situation). Car dealer - no problem.