|
2004-02-17 - 7:48 p.m. To bless or not to bless Sneeze-blessing. Forgive me if this was covered already on Seinfeld. I never really watched that show. What is the etiquette here? I'm not asking for the story behind the custom; I know tons of those. But what are the social requirements? In my formative years, we never blessed sneezes in my family. Every now and then someone would say Gesundheit, which is odd now that I think of it, us not being German and all. Sometimes my mom would say "Scat!" I have no idea what the logic was behind that outburst. But sneeze-blessing, generally, just wasn't something that went on. At home, between my husband and myself, we don't sneeze-bless. If one of us does one of those serial sneezes, the other may make some smart remark at the end, like, "Wow, a quad, six point o!" or something. But no blessing. At work is where it starts to get complicated. Every time I start a new job, I make sure I take notice of the sneeze-blessing aspect of the workplace. Some places bless; some places don't. I just adjust to the local customs. When in Rome, you know? I can bless and be blessed, if that's what the culture dictates. Where I work now, folks are definitely sneeze-blessers. With one exception... me. Not that I don't try and participate. I work in an area with three other people. If one of them sneezes and neither of the other two hears it or says anything within a few seconds, I give my blessing, and they always say thank you. I wouldn't say anything at all, but I hear some people take this stuff very seriously, and I don't want to be rude. However, if I sneeze... nothing. Exceptions to that rule are very rare. Not like I started it here - they bless one another all the time, if someone is around. But if no one else blesses first, I feel like I should step in, to be polite. Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe there's a cue I'm not getting and I should just stay out of it completely. Maybe I'm completely neurotic and over-thinking the whole matter. But if you're not used to that by now with me, go back and read some of the past entries. Perhaps sneeze-blessing is another one of those benefits that temps don't get. And I'm fine with unblessed sneezes... just seems an odd delineation. Just since I've never tried creating one of the polls, I'm going to put one together on the general sneeze-blessing topic. If you have an opinion or just like taking polls, give it a click. Notice I didn't make "omg, this is the stupidest poll ever created" one of the choices. No need forcing a landslide. Click here to take the survey. It doesn't allow simple multiple choice, I had to make them yes/no. That last part about putting in comments about the quiz itself is just a default - I didn't put it in, and I'm not allowed to take it out. So no pressure for comments - I didn't intend to ask for any. But comment away if the spirit moves you! my mood - |
|
|
Recent ramblings: |
<==