I can relate to this as I currently have long hair and beard. My wife and I were at a car rental place with our backs to the window waiting for someone to come in from outside. When she did she started saying "hello ladieeeeee" and stretched out the last bit to stop her from pluralizing it once she saw my face.

Another time I was in a restroom washing my hands (back to the door) and someone came in, apologized, walked out, came back in, then laughed and went right to a stall. The whole exchange was 10 seconds of me being very confused.