I was always smart enough to treat them like one.
I once saw a SMA dressdown an O-7 General for him cutting some troops to the front of the line because he needed a tent put up while my unit had a hot mission on-going for the past 20 hours, first time I had ever seen that, gave me even more respect for Sergeant Majors. As far as a CWO's go I always was respectful and treated them like an officer.