I'm living full time as female, and I had thought I've been passing pretty well. The other day I saw some acquaintances whom I hadn't seen since before going full time, and they were in the dark about me being trans and all. But regardless, I was dressed up, makeup, leggings, etc. They all recognized me, but didn't comment about my appearance at all and called me by my male name. I couldn't bring myself to correct them, it was awkward enough and I haven't had to flat out correct anyone and tell them to stop using my birth name. But like I said, even if I wasn't passing too well, I'd have thought it was obvious that I was in girl mode, my appearance was drastically different since the last time I saw these guys. It's seriously messing with my head, because it's happened before with like waiters and stuff. I'll have makeup on and feminine clothing, and even if I don't pass, is it not obvious what I'm attempting to convey? Should I be correcting people? At places like restaurants I let it go, but the guys in this situation I see pretty regularly, which means eventually I'll have to tell them; it's just no one is asking questions, just assuming I'm the same and that nothing's changed.
With the people you know, it would probably be good to correct them. Maybe they were just taken off guard and weren't sure how to react to seeing you dressed differently, so they just proceeded like normal? Since you see them regularly, they'll have to be told, and they might just not know how to treat it without being told. With waiters and people like that who don't know you already, even if you don't pass to them, it should be pretty obvious what you're going for, so I'm not really sure if it's worth correcting them, since they could be transphobic. You could try though, it's really up to you.
