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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to not say 'bless you' every time someone sneezes?

52 replies

MackerelOfFact · 15/04/2015 14:31

Or is that impolite? Confused

When I sneeze, I usually just say 'excuse me' afterwards. If someone wants to bless me, then fine, but I don't much care.

But for some reason my colleague gets arsey when people don't say 'bless you' when she sneezes - to the point that she will passive-aggressively say 'bless me' when she sneezes and shoot pointed glances around the office.

I feel like I'm being rude not blessing her but at the same time it seems a bit daft that anyone would be that bothered!

OP posts:
reni1 · 15/04/2015 14:33

Ask her if she'd like her burps and farts blessed, too.

SunnyBaudelaire · 15/04/2015 14:34

she sounds like a silly biatch.
Why does she have to draw attention to her bodily functions?
yuk.

MissBattleaxe · 15/04/2015 14:35

This made me chuckle. The custom of doing it goes back years and it really doesn't matter anymore, it's just a friendly thing to say if you feel like it. Your colleague obviously likes people saying it to her! Either that or she is several hundred years old and superstitious!

It used to be said because people felt that you would leave a gap for the devil to get in if you sneezed. If someone says bless you, then the devil couldn't get in. So you see, it's irrelevant these days and it doesn't matter if you say it or not. I say it to people and it doesn't matter.

squoosh · 15/04/2015 14:35

Oh offices and your crazy inhabitants, you truly are the most trying test of the modern world.

SnotQueen · 15/04/2015 14:36

Tell her it's too late. She is the devil.

ProudofmyWench · 15/04/2015 14:37

I was thinking on the same lines as reni1 she seems the like the attention. I was always told it was bad luck to bless someones sneeze as it harks back to the Black Death days when sneezing usually meant you were going to kick the bucket so people "blessed you" into the next world before you died. But her choice, maybe she's done some really naughty things that she needs blessing away before she gets to the pearly gates lol

MissBattleaxe · 15/04/2015 14:44

"silly bitch"? bit harsh.

Yokohamajojo · 15/04/2015 14:44

I have one of those in the office too! and she sneezes not just the customary two but about 10 in a row and expect 10 bless yous Hmm

MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels · 15/04/2015 14:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SunnyBaudelaire · 15/04/2015 14:52

lol I said 'biatch' which makes it less harsh.

squoosh · 15/04/2015 14:56

I love that she glares at you all when you don't bless her. I'd like her even more though if she stood up and yelled 'you fuckers probably wouldn't even care if I died!'

And then smoothed down her cardigan and went back to some filing.

Favouritethings · 15/04/2015 14:56

Haha this made me laugh!!

KahloSherman · 15/04/2015 15:17

Next time she sneezes, I dare you to shout BLLLLLLEEEEEEEEESSSSS YOOOOOOUUUU!! as loud as you can, in your best Brian, er, Blessed voice. I dare you.

RupertsGirlGroom · 15/04/2015 15:24

I onced sneezed, got 'blessed' and while i was still in the twitchy eye limbo between sneezes told of for not saying thank you!!!

SnotQueen · 15/04/2015 15:33

I'm fairly sure something terrible happens if you thank someone for a bless you, Ruperts.
Like a leprachaun automatically gets your bank details or something.

patienceisvirtuous · 15/04/2015 15:42

I have allergies and hate it when people bless my sneezes because a) they're frequent and b) I feel obliged to acknowledge their 'blessing'. I'd rather just sneeze in bloody peace than have a whole rigmarole around it!

IgnoreMeEveryOtherReindeerDoes · 15/04/2015 15:53

I am one of these people who bless people after they sneeze and bless myself when no one else around yet I have no fucking idea why I do only that DS has picked up this habit

LetsDoThis74 · 15/04/2015 15:54

I work with a woman who doesn't ever say thank you when someone says bless you when she sneezes, and she sneezes a lot. Once she actually asked the team why we dont say bless you to her (we do say it generally, just not to her) and she was told that seeing as you dont ever say thank you, we thought better of it. She didnt take that well at all. She recently had a sneezing fit and looked round, expecting someone to bless her, nobody did and she said ' For Gods sake, bless you' too loudly and in a most sarcastic, put out tone. She's a total loon.

KingJoffreyFanciesDarylDixon · 15/04/2015 16:32

I had a colleague with a bad cold recently and had the sneezes.

Only two of us on the shift so the 'bless yous' were entirely down to me.

6 hours into a 13 hour shift I had to tell him I was done. Was exhausted..!

squoosh · 15/04/2015 16:33

It would be so much easier if people just made their mind up not to sneeze.

MagelanicClouds · 15/04/2015 16:41

Proudoff is right about the origin of it - too many people were dying for the priests to do a proper last rite for everyone so a quick 'bless you' was said in lieu.
If they're not Roman Catholic and about to peg it, it's not necessary!

I had a hay fever related sneezing fit a while back and a nearby total stranger said bless you after every single sneeze! I didn't appreciate it much, even though I know they were just trying to be polite.

cleanmyhouse · 15/04/2015 17:01

My dad always dramatically shouts "GOOD HEALTH" after anybody sneezes because he's an athiest and apparently thats how they do it in Russia. He's not Russian.

squoosh · 15/04/2015 17:02

My aunt usually says something like 'may the saints preserve you'.

Original poster
MackerelOfFact · 15/04/2015 17:06

It's not just me then. Grin

I can see how it can be a useful thing to punctuate the awkward pause in conversation when someone sneezes. But there's no similar response for a cough or a hiccup or other such bodily interruptions.

OP posts:
Sheitgeist · 15/04/2015 17:06

This thread has made me laugh... can't imagine anyone getting annoyed by not being blessed!