I'm a woman "of a certain age" and I have a "man's voice"...

[mwooldri]

7. I used to work customer service for nearly 20 years.

My voice broke early, and didn't complete its transition to what I would consider a male voice. Stuck there between male and female.

Co-workers would certainly hear me say all too frequently "I am not a woman". Some days it did get me frustrated, and some days questioning my own gender. I certainly get where you come from, especially with the "they can't see me" part... though in my second main "customer service" job the people I served had an opportunity to see me once a year if they so wished.

Hearing a gender is especially hard if who you're listening to is transgender and has a distinctly high or low pitch voice. One person I worked with (albeit remotely) was M2F and she went by Samantha, but often got shortened to Sam, and her voice was definitely "male".

At this point in my life, it's a case of best guess when on the phone (with no visual cues), if unsure ask, and if corrected roll with it. It's kind of why I prefer to do any customer service things by email or text as opposed to a phone call.

Glad you're smoke free. Nasty habit.