> Really? I've been assuming that addressing people by first name--even people you've just met--is now the default, at least for the United States and Canada.
This is incorrect. Calling people by something less formal than Mr./Miss/Mrs. <family-name> is certainly the current norm, but the alternative used is a personal choice of the person being addressed and often different from (sometimes, though far from always, a shortened form of) the legal personal name.
> I know that it used to be rude to address someone by their first name unless you knew them well. You had to say, Mr. last-name or Mrs/Ms./Miss last-name.
It remains rude to address someone by less formal terms until and unless you have sufficient contact with them to know the less formal appellation that they prefer you to use. It is more expected now than in the past that people will very quickly accept the use of less formal address and inform you of their preferred form.
It is also more common for businesses wishing to feign familiarity to presume that first name information from a customer registry, credit card, or other source is equivalent to stating a preferred form of address and consenting to have the businesses agents use that form; it is not, and quite a lot of people react badly to it. You would be well advised not to imitate those businesses.
This is incorrect. Calling people by something less formal than Mr./Miss/Mrs. <family-name> is certainly the current norm, but the alternative used is a personal choice of the person being addressed and often different from (sometimes, though far from always, a shortened form of) the legal personal name.
> I know that it used to be rude to address someone by their first name unless you knew them well. You had to say, Mr. last-name or Mrs/Ms./Miss last-name.
It remains rude to address someone by less formal terms until and unless you have sufficient contact with them to know the less formal appellation that they prefer you to use. It is more expected now than in the past that people will very quickly accept the use of less formal address and inform you of their preferred form.
It is also more common for businesses wishing to feign familiarity to presume that first name information from a customer registry, credit card, or other source is equivalent to stating a preferred form of address and consenting to have the businesses agents use that form; it is not, and quite a lot of people react badly to it. You would be well advised not to imitate those businesses.