ACHOO!

In case you didn't know, I'm an atheist.

And, in case you didn't know (for example, if English isn't your primary language, Maris), saying "bless you" is a polite way to respond to a person sneezing. And the common courtesy is to say "thank you" to that person and everyone's happy. Everyone follows this protocol because it's good manners. Except for me. I don't say anything to people when they sneeze and I tend not to respond when they respond to my sneezing. To me, it's archaic and rooted in a tradition going back seemingly for centuries. And, because some people do it frequently every day, it just feels like a pointless gesture.

Today my boss scolded me in front of a co-worker who asked me why I didn't respond to a customer saying "bless you" after I sneezed. (I have told my co-workers that I am atheist and that hadn't been an issue to this point.) She explained to me that someone might take offense to me not responding to their "blessing" and further noted the contradiction that I say "Oh my God," "Jesus" (and even "jeez") or other things like that without a second thought. (Which, after the scolding, I started to.) Because of the potential customer service issue, I inferred that not responding to a customer and having that person complain to my boss or my boss' boss might get me in trouble. It's kind of a difficult position to be in.

It should be noted that there is no clear consensus on the true origins of the phrases "bless you" or "God bless you," but I strongly believe that the person who says it wants their God to help you and protect you. Whether or not that's what they actually mean, that's what it sounds like to me. I consider it almost akin to someone saying they're going to "pray for me," like it's some sort of backhanded compliment and they're doing me a favor when they're actually being an asshole. In a way it's also like telling me to clap enthusiastically for the dying Tinkerbell in order to revive her, since some people believe (my boss included) that sneezing causes the heart to stop for a moment and saying "bless you" is supposed to aid in re-fibrillation somehow.

I'm fully aware that some people who don't believe in any God say "bless you" out of pure courtesy, including Danielle, who thinks I'm being petty by not saying "thank you" to someone blessing me. But I'd rather not show appreciation to people hoping my sneeze doesn't kill me because it's illogical. What else can I do/say?

My other issue is that I'm probably way in the minority on this; as if being an atheist wasn't bad enough, now I'm being made to feel like this is some sort of anti-religious rebellion and I've got hardly any ground to stand on. And that's probably the case? But, like anyone with a strong belief, I hope to be able to stick to my guns on this, because, at the very least, I don't think I can be fired for having a personal belief against something so...well, trivial.

Anyway, what do you do when someone else sneezes? How do you feel when people respond to you sneezing?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

derailin threads like a boss

How ya doing, buddy?