if someone you barely know calls you "baby", is it some sort of disrespect?  

I will first say that I'm italian so there might a little difference in our cultural use of words and way of thinking. what I'm going to give is my personal opinion :
I think the word baby in the same sentence can be used to give different meanings. The way is said can tell a lot, but since it was written and adressed from a man to a woman I think the guy was just being nice to her, maybe he likes her or he's just an easygoing friendly guy.
It is different than when a man adresses it to another man, that'd be a provocation probably. Let's be honest, some girls like to be called with sweet names (I'm not saying that all of them do)It happened to me to be called friend or with other nice names by someone I didn't consider that close, I've never been offended by that beacause I could hear it was in a friendly way and sometimes that brought us closer in some way.

We are here in discussion and all of us are friend. And addressing "baby" to a friend is not perfect. Those are chatting word and we need not use those word in discussion. And if any elderly person call an young person "baby" then another thing. But as many people don't like and consider this address other way avoiding of such addressing is the best.

Hi ann, there are some people who use that expression all the time, the same as some men always refer to females as sugar. I don't think any disrespect is inferred.

I guess it depends on the culture, in different cultures there are different ways of addressing people, either friends we know, partners, family or strangers so one form of address may not be acceptable to some, but accepted to others. I would certainly NEVER address a lady I don't know as baby, mind you I would never address a lady I did know as baby either, but that's the way I was brought up and probably the country I am in. It is disrespectful and it's also quite patronizing as well for the lady of any age.

Hi tigeraunt,
I think it depends on how it is delivered. I understand some people are used to addressing other people with other names especially if they don't remember the real name of the person they are talking to. But i think it's sweet to be called "baby"...

I am traditional and I don't like strangers to call me baby because it is not so suitable. It is better to call me Ms.

I love China

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I know someone that has experienced the same thing. Working at a food place she sees recurrent customers and when they see her they refer to her as 'baby' like 'thank you baby' etc. She knows she is young but she doesn't feel she needs to be called that way since she is not a child or teenager. What bothers her and also makes her feel uncomfortable is that these men call her that way in front of their wives. She doesn't know how to react when this happens. There is a very old couple that when ever the man sees her at the food place says hi and stuff and always tells her:" wow..you are so pretty" in front of his wife. I'm talking about retired people(60's). She feels very uncomfortable because he tells her the same thing EVERY time he sees her and the wife is right there beside him.

I have started to adopt the mentally of taking how people address me and what they say to me with much patience. You can't change the mentality or the streotypes that cause people to act in percieved sexest ways.My getting upset will probably give them a kick. I don't like giving others that kind of satisfaction. If someone says something i don't like or argee with, more then often then not i choose to ignore that they said anything at all. Why grace it with a response. The term baby is sometimes just the way people talk, sometimes in an effort to sound big and also people like to flirt and that harmless- As long as they know when to stop and when enough is enough!

It depends entirely on who says it really - some people use expressions without any intention, others might use it in a manipulative way to establish superiority.
I know someone who freely calls other msn 'babe' which is very odd, but it's his way and he means nothing by it.
In parts of the UK, you might be called 'love' either by a woman or a man regardless of whether you are male or female yourself. It's not meant to be insulting, it's just a cultural thing - you have to understand the context in which the phrase is being used.