re this:

Last year an executive of a multinational corporation called me "dude."

The word is the same but the tone has changed....did he say it in that "stoned surfer-dude" kinda way? Like the turtles in Finding Nemo?

No, he said it with a slight tone of annoyance (because I disagreed with him over something), somewhat in the way another man might call one "pal" if a bit irritated.