Sometimes our politeness is on autopilot. Sometimes we say all the nice buzz words without even thinking about what it is we’re actually saying. How many times has a passerby said, “hi, how are you?” and you’ve answered, “fine, how are you?” knowing not only will you not get a response because they’re already gone, but that you really don’t care to hear the answer anyway?
Let me tell you what happened that got me thinking along these lines. Last night we were at a restaurant and the hostess brought over a small group to sit beside ours. She laid down the menus and said, “enjoy your meal”. The father in the family replied, “thanks, you too”.
Then realized his mistake.
It was comical watching his painful attempt at recovery…”eeerrrr…I mean….you know….later, when you get to eat…” The hostess just laughed and said thanks.
Not only have I done this before, I’ve done it with other professions.
Airline counter agent hands me my paperwork and says, “thank you, have a great flight”.
Me: “thank you, you too”
Me: “um…I mean, ya know, on your next trip”.
Nurse wheeling me out to my car after surgery says, “take care and get better”
Me: “thanks, you too”
Me: “um, because you don’t look like you’re having a good day?”
(For the record, that’s the worst recovery attempt ever!)
Nurse: “I’m actually having a good day”.
Now I’ve hurt her feelings.
Me: “sorry, it’s the drugs talking”.
Whew. Always blame the drugs! She laughed and helped me into my car.
I know we’ve all done this….so let me know how you said the wrong thing while on autopilot!!
Isn’t this pretty common? Those etiquette foohpa’s that nevertheless, are better than rude silence.
The worst instances, of course, involve people who love each other and thus, take more time to end a phone conversation than the info exchange before. “I love you,” “I love you, too,” good-bye, bye, take care, you, too, hugs, moo-wha, smootch, have a nice evening, good night, etc…. It makes you want to call someone special right now, doesn’t it?
Awww!
Worst one was when I was exhausted after having worked a 16-hour shift, and I spoke to my mom on the phone, half-listening, and was inserting phrases into her pauses on autopilot. I actually ended up saying, “that’s nice, ” after she had just told me her blood pressure was high at her doctor’s appointment… Oy, vey!
Oh my!! That’s exactly what I’m talking about though…what did she say? Aw, poor Momma.
Gal at work says: my diet is fantastic, I have lost 25 pounds!!! Your response: Really?
I think that one can cause bodily injury!!!
Well, a little bit of a slant, and a bit rude in language, but I remember reading once about the difficulties of being a waitress/waiter and having to deal with difficult customers. One waitress reported that after dealing with exceptionally obnoxious customers (who naturally left little or no tip), as they were leaving the table her final parting comment (delivered with a big smile and a warm tone to her voice) was “Fuck you very much.”
Hahahaha, waitressing has some really great examples of this, I’m sure. I remember during my waitressing days, a hostess was walking out four elderly ladies and said to them, “Have a nice lay, ladies”.
Yup, I do it all the time on the response, sometimes doing the hello thing twice. I went to airhead school.
“Airhead School”?? LOVE it!!!
Spouse says: Love you, [my name] I say: Love you too [not his name]. We both laughed…but there was a little bit of a “Lucy, you got splaining to do!!!” moment in between!
Wow, I’m glad he laughed!
Me too!!!! Major slip there (haha!). Maybe I win the best faux pas award on your post last night!!
it happened also to me! and by “me” I mean me as the one who had to get his ass out of the trap of embarrassment…
Hahaha…:-)
I instinctively add “Have a nice day!” to pretty much everything I say. That’s not been appropriate a few times.
It’s painful to be nice sometimes, haha. But as one reader said, it’s better than being painfully rude.
Me: “sorry, it’s the drugs talking”.
Whew. Always blame the drugs! She laughed and helped me into my car.
Wait, please tell me she was under the impression someone else was driving, because obviously she was having the same drugs…
hahaha, usually the patient is wheeled out to the passenger side of the car, while hubby or someone else drives. For some reason we have the rule that the patient cannot just walk out of the hospital…but has to have a nurse get them a wheel chair and push them out. I’m sure there’s a good reason for it, but I fail to understand that one.
Happens all the time in the grocery store….for whatever reason the workers there say “How are you?” rather than “hello”. So it goes:
Them: How are you?
Me: Hi………………..then when I’m 30 feet away I yell,…..wait, I’m not, really!
hahaha! Great example!
I worked in a movie theatre for a while, and I can’t tell you how many times I was told to ‘enjoy my show, too’ after ripping someone’s tickets.
I actually laughed pretty loudly at that one! Hadn’t even thought of it, but what a great example. And working in a movie theatre, did you get to enjoy the shows? A free perk?
Sometimes I tell them, “I’m still on this side of the ground so that’s a good thing!” I get a few blank stares but usually people laugh and agree.
haha, I had to think about that one for a minute (my brain is fried), but that’s a good one!
This is funny. I really like the exchange between you and the nurse. Yes, drugs, alcohol–very good scapegoats
Haha, thanks! I felt like it an idiot but it’s always worth the pain if it can be used to give someone a laugh!
Yes, been there and done that. Never know what to say to follow up the faux pas.
Love this post…..especially the last example…since I’m a nurse you would be surprised how many times we have heard the “Thanks you too!” line when we discharge patients. We always get a good chuckle between the both of us! Trust me, most of the time we nurses need a laugh, and after all “laughter is the BEST medicine!” My blooper happened this past Mother’s Day, I was over at my husband’s family gathering and his male cousin comes up to hug me and says “Happy Mother’s Day.” I reply, “Happy Mother’s Day to you too.” And I actually didn’t realize I had said it, until he gives me this sideways glance and asks me if I am feeling okay. Well my only excuse was that I’d just come off of 4 straight days of 12 hour evening/night shift. So perhaps I was slightly delusional from being moderately sleep deprived. I felt like such a nut! Of course, now he reminds me of the blooper every time I see him and we get a good laugh out of it. —-And thanks for checking out my blog and deciding to follow it. Hope it will continue to bless and inspire your life! – Wendy —-
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That’s AWESOME! It’s nice to hear from one of the professions we average citizens tend to bloop! LOL, is that a new verb? And I’m so thankful to hear you all find the laughter in the situation. I thought it might get on your nerves after awhile. And yes, I definitely felt a littly nutty when I did it too…druggish and nutty, great combo.
Great example. Happy Mother’s Day to you too George…uhhh…well, I guess there are some guys out there pulling Mom and Dad duty, so just chalk it up to that. Haha. It’s nice to “meet” you Wendy!
Very nice to meet you too! I look forward to reading more of your posts.