She didn't say it back!

[ShootMePlease]

I'm always annoyed when people do that. I understand they mean well, but I find it offensive. I don't push my non-beliefs on others, and I expect the same in return. Particularly in a professional environment where it doesn't belong.

[HappyFun Ball]

With "Bless Your Heart" you can say anything about somebody and get away with it as long as you say it afterwards.

Examples:

Oh that baby is so ugly, Bless it's Heart

He is so stupid, Bless His Heart

She doesn't have the sense that God gave a Donut Hole, Bless Her Heart.

[Shalom]

Although as an orthodox Jew I do believe in God, I don't go round commanding Him to bless other people. Who am I to tell Him what to do? The only time I say "G_d bless you" is if someone sneezes and they don't understand Yiddish (otherwise I'd say something like "Tzi gezint", or "A gezint oif dir", which is what my grandmother used to say).

What I might do is bless them myself, rather than invoking the Deity to do so. My rabbi likes to point out that when you greet someone by saying "Good morning", you are in fact giving them a blessing that their morning will be good. There's a saying in the Talmud, "אל תהי ברכת הדיוט קלה בעיניך" that translates as "Do not scorn the blessing of an ordinary person" (more literally, let not the blessing of a layman be light(weight) in your eyes). Even though I'm not of priestly descent, nor a great rabbi or scholar, my blessing is still worth something.

In the situation of this thread though, I probably would have said the same thing as the OP, thereby provoking the same complaint. I might have added "And the same to yourself", but maybe not. Probably will from now on, though.)

(As an aside, back in the early '90s when it looked like India and Pakistan were headed for war with each other, I remember my boss walking into the store laughing. I asked him what was so funny, and he said he had just seen a bumper sticker on a taxi that read: "God bless Pakistan. And please hurry.")

[Mystic]

There's enough misery and ill will in the world that I don't need to be adding to it by taking offense at something that was not meant to be offensive in the first place.

There is great truth in this. People of all faiths and races seem to get way too offended too easily these days.

[RealUnimportant]

People <snip> seem to get way too offended too easily these days.

Fixed. This is why it's best to keep ones opinions to oneself - but we wouldn't be here if we did that, would we?

[Caractacus_Potts]

I said to him, You used to ask me that when I worked at Walmart in M(town). I have the same answer today <smile>. He looks at me askance, realizes I recognize him (even after 3 years, that's how annoying it was!) and wanders off.

If you see him again and he asks if your saved just say, "I don't need to be saved since I have no original sin. I'm one of the other people."

Reference if you never read the story: http://www.paganlibrary.com/fundies/other_people.php

[emax4]

I'm religious, but I don't practice as much. Even I would have said, "M'am", this is a free country. You're living in it. I'm living in it. I'm free to withhold "God Bless" as free as you are to say it.."

[Sapphire Silk]

Although as an orthodox Jew I do believe in God, I don't go round commanding Him to bless other people. Who am I to tell Him what to do? The only time I say "G_d bless you" is if someone sneezes and they don't understand Yiddish (otherwise I'd say something like "Tzi gezint", or "A gezint oif dir", which is what my grandmother used to say).

The saying "God Bless You," is really a shorthand for a protective blessing after a sneeze, because early Christians believed you could force your soul out of the body with one, and "God Bless You" was a call for God to protect the sneezer's soul. http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/blessyou.asp

Somehow it turned to broader usage in recent years.

But you do make a good point: who are we to command God to do anything? Hmm. I wonder if it falls under the same category as taking the Lord's Name in Vain?

[Moirae]

I didn't know you had to say it back. I always just say thank you. I'm an atheist too. And I find it very inappropriate that anyone would say that anyway.

I'm always annoyed when people do that. I understand they mean well, but I find it offensive. I don't push my non-beliefs on others, and I expect the same in return. Particularly in a professional environment where it doesn't belong.

I have to to echo that.

[Marszenka]

I'm Christian and "God bless", "Have a blessed day" etc bothers me a bit. I have to agree with another poster that it seems almost inappropriate on its own (it's such a casual statement regarding something that's meant to be very sacred, and yeah it's awkward to try to command God), but it also doesn't have any place in a professional environment. When I hear it I DO say "thank you". I've never said "God bless" back to anyone in my entire life; I just...it's so awkward for me even though it's meant well. I might have said "you too" once or twice. (For the record, I don't mind "Bless you" after a sneeze).

If I ever run into someone really pushy like the woman in this story, perhaps I'll say "Benedicte" back. I'm a medieval history nerd; might as well get a kick out of the old school way of doing things.

Also, Shalom, I love what you said about a layman's blessing. For some reason I found it very touching.

P.S. I LOVE saying "geshviste oigen". Yiddish is a great language :P

[FiddleFaddle]

Good for you for refusing to say something back that you don't believe in

[EricKei]

But you do make a good point: who are we to command God to do anything? Hmm. I wonder if it falls under the same category as taking the Lord's Name in Vain?

I always figured it was short for 'MAY God Bless you' (read: "I hope He does"), tho I did know of the origin. There's absolutely nothing wrong with not responding if you don't feel like it (heck, most people seem to say it just out of habit, from what I've seen).

I wonder why more people don't just say "Gesundheit"? It carries the same basic implication (i.e., "I'm guessing that you're a bit sick, get better"), everyone I've ever said it to seems to know what it means, but it has no religious connotation at all. It literally just means "health/healthiness", with the implication of "may you be healthy".

[Kogarashi]

I think for me (another Christian), the "God bless" awkwardness comes mostly from the fact that I grew up with it not in the common lexicon around me, so really the first time I heard it from someone else was after moving to our current state (meaning I had a good 25 or so without hearing it at all beyond responses to sneezing). I would've most likely also responded "Thank you," and maybe an automatic "you too." And no, I don't think your manager's right for telling you that you have to say it back. It loses all meaning if you don't believe it anyway, and then who's to say the SC wouldn't complain about your insincerity next?

I wonder why more people don't just say "Gesundheit"?

Or how about "salud"? Means the same thing (only in Spanish), and it's actually my Hubby's automatic response to a sneeze thanks to spending two years in Venezuela.

[NCO]

I'm a Christian and the customer's complaint in the original post offends me highly. The boss should have stopped the complaint cold. What if the situation were reversed and the employee was a "Turbo Christian" and the customer not of that belief? Instant firing!

Never once in the Bible did Jesus ever act like some of the Turbo Christians we see today, nor did he ever encourage the type of behavior they display.

[Andara Bledin]

I always figured it was short for 'MAY God Bless you' (read: "I hope He does"), tho I did know of the origin.

This has been my feeling on it. It's not so much a statement of what God should do as much as offering your hope that God does so for the target person.

^-.-^