I am in California, so perhaps this is just confirmation of your guess that it's a California-ism, but I certainly use "Hey $name" and even less formal things (if that's possible) to address my manager (and even my CEO). I did the same when working in upstate NY, though (~15 years ago), and my impression is that such informality isn't particularly unique.
I've actually never worked anywhere such formality was expected, and suggesting something like that would probably get you some weird looks. I wonder if it's an industry thing? Perhaps some industries tend to enforce politeness/formality between rungs in the career ladder more than others?
I've actually never worked anywhere such formality was expected, and suggesting something like that would probably get you some weird looks. I wonder if it's an industry thing? Perhaps some industries tend to enforce politeness/formality between rungs in the career ladder more than others?