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

[MackerelOfFact]

Or is that impolite?

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!

I had this same conversation with my DH the other night. Is it rude to not say 'bless you'? I usually say excuse me after I sneeze, just like I would if I burped - I definitely don't expect to be blessed! My colleague blessed herself after a sneeze and made a pointed comment to me about not saying anything - I just think it's daft. My DH thinks it's just polite and the thing to do - I just can't understand it. Happy if someone wants to say it but I don't think it should be considered impolite if you ignore someone's natural bodily function!

I have never said "bless you". I'm an atheist and the only people I remember saying it were my grannies. Superstitious twaddle.
Your colleague can bless herself if she enjoys melodramatic superstitious twaddle and being passive aggressive (and it sounds as though she does).

I say bless me always have. Don't really care if others do it. I've been sneezing a lot in the office today. If you're a colleague of mine then your paranoid. I don't care

I automatically say bless you whenever someone sneezes but only because of the film Dogma.

I don't want any avenging angels to get me for something as petty as that.

Oh wow I am rethinking everything. I bless sneezes all the time! Even my baby's sneezes and she obviously wouldn't care if I didn't!

I'm an atheist too! Does this get me thrown out of the club... I just consider it good manners, I'm not actually worried about anyone's soul.

I'm surprised so many people do it. My parents didn't (although their mothers did, don't remember my grandads' doing it) so I don't, my ex didn't and my kids don't. My husband occasionally says "bless me" (presumably because I never say anything except "do you have to make so much racket when you sneeze" . I really thought it was an old lady thing.

My Dh blesses sneezes and he is an atheist. It annoys me, I like to sneeze in peace. I have told him that he does not have to bless me as I do not and am not likely to have the plague.

I have never said it to anyone, and at work where I do sneeze a lot they just ignore me.

I always say 'bless you' when somebody sneezes and always bless myself if nobody else does, I hope people don't think I'm doing it to make a point

Unless it's my DH, if he doesn't bless me, he gets the 'stare ' whilst I dramatically bless myself

Why? I really don't get it.

Going against the majority here. I actually get a bit huffy when DP doesn't say bless you when I sneeze, for some (obviously bonkers) reason I think it's rude not to. I always bless others and don't get cross when I'm not blessed in public (only at home).

Clearly from this thread IABU. I shall forgive DP his missing bless yous.

Here's a 'bless you' in advance Tango!

My work mates usually say 'fucking hell, that was loud' when I sneeze . I don't particularly like people saying 'bless you', it's too godly for me and feels self conscious and excessively polite.

My Mum says "One's a wish, two's a kiss, three's a disappointment,
Four's a letter, Five's even better, six is best of all"

I say the same and when they sneeze twice the DC get a kiss.

I usually bless sneezes - strangers' too, there again I generally say bless you a lot anyway to people as a kind thing to say - did feel a bit however when I found myself saying it to our vicar, as in am I really qualified to do this or is only he allowed?

Thank you squoosh

You can say thank you after being blessed but then you have to clap three times to stop a fairy dying.

Apparently.

I live in New Zealand. Nobody says 'bless you' after you sneeze. Just another social cue that they miss.

I feel the need to say excuse me after sneezing just to break the awkward silence.

I say bless you when someone sneezes, almost as a reflex as I'm British. I miss people saying bless you after sneezing.

I guess it's socially acceptable to let it go without comment like, say, coughing, scratching, (farting ?), sniffing.

I usually bless sneezes, burps and farts for my DP, but then we are odd. It's just a bit of a joke with us

RuthAaarghhh
This thread has made me snigger. My four year old Dd tells me off if I forget to say "bless you" when she sneezes. I'm worried she is going to be the office loon now when she grows up!

I never say 'bless you' and get funny looks for not doing so !

My reasoning is that I don't like DH's theatrical-style loud sneezing, people at work annoy me by spreading their germs & waffling on about allergies/hay fever etc, and if someone sneezes near me in public I remove myself as quickly as possible.

I know I'm rude, intolerant & anti-social, sorry about that.

MackerelOfFact, does your colleague cover her mouth with a hankie before she sneezes? If not, could you shoot a similarly pointed look at her while passive-aggressively intoning 'coughs and sneezes spread diseases' in her direction?

Lowering the tone a bit here but I worked with somebody who declared in a packed office that the quality of a woman's orgasm can be determined by the way she sneezes. The statement was apparently true because she had read it in Cosmopolitan.

Could be a novel way of quietening the PA sneezers?

Agree with Albertcamus. I'd rather people sneezed quietly into a tissue or handkerchief rather than loudly and germ spreadingly accompanied by a chorus of bless yous and thank yous.

Urgh I hate the overplayed, over the top sneeze that some people do. Ah ah ah AAH AAH ATCHOO!
Stfu. Just stfu. I say nothing in response to those in particular because they are attention seeking gits.
t3 those are the people you hear through the walls in hotels faking orgasms loudly.
#sneezerage2015