I think it must have to do with region. I'm a cashier in a large busy supermarket in New England and I don't think I've ever heard any of the 40 cashiers call any male, over the age of 8, honey.
You're right, the male cashiers don't call anyone honey. Only the female cashiers call anyone honey; and then, only kids.
But this is New England and thinking about it; it may be that I'VE been called honey by a cashier or two when visiting in FL & SC. (Refer to my age in the sidebar!) In the Southeast I wouldn't be surprised to hear my gruff old exhusband be called sweetheart by some cashiers.
The cashiers in my store are trained to refer to customers as Mr or Ms Lastname, but the customers names show on our monitors for @ 3 seconds at the end of bank card transactions; so in practice, we call customers ma'am or sir.
I've never been confused as to which gender any customer has presented as. From time to time I've inwardly speculated whether occaisional very tall (over 6') large women are transgendered. Then I look closely at their hands; in all those cases I'm pretty sure that they were females from birth. Yeah, I'm nosey.