I have found out that the "yes, ma'am, "yes, sir" thing is Southern.
After we moved here, son changed quite a bit ...... another long story but it really hurt him deeply when we moved. Soon I noticed that he seemed quite abrupt and curt when speaking to me and attributed it to his resentment that we moved. I finally figured out, though, that he had simply quit saying "yes, ma'am" and "no ma'am" to me. There are many northern transplants in this area and he not only started picking up more of a northern accent but he dropped the "ma'am" thing. It made his remarks to me seem harsher.
Now, before you northerners on the thread get your dander up ...... what I was reacting to was the change in his speech. If he hadn't been raised to say "yes ma'am" there wouldn't have been a problem.