Blessing or a curse?

I’ve been getting blessed a lot lately, and it’s confusing me.

Not blessed out – that happens, too, usually after I pull away from the window at a fast food drive-through. I mean blessed, as in people keep telling me to “Have a blessed day.”

What do they mean by this? Blessed by whom? Blessed in what way? (By the way, I discovered recently that some churches have services in which they bless people’s pets. I think Lucky would like this. Assuming she doesn’t eat the altar.)

I suppose “Have a blessed day” is some variant of “Have a nice day,” only with a religious connotation. But do they really care if I have a blessed day? Nobody ever tries to confirm that I did.

The cashier at Kroger who wished – no, commanded – me to have a blessed day last Friday didn’t call me later that night to find out if I did. I could have died in a fiery accident, but his conscience is clear, because he urged me to have a blessed day. It’s not his fault if I didn’t.

People are always telling us to do things we can’t control. Like, “Have a safe flight.” Number one, it’s really not up to me whether the plane crashes or not. And number two, is that a necessary thing to say? Is there anybody, besides maybe an ex-wife, who hopes you don’t have a safe flight? It seems to me that it could remain unspoken. Same with “Get well soon.” I would if I could, buddy.

I know, these folks mean well, but they can’t resist the urge to say something when they really don’t have to. This happens a lot on elevators. I have no problem with looking at my feet the entire time, or pretending to be checking an important message on my Blackberry. Awkward silences don’t bother me. I embrace them.

But sure as shooting, on every elevator ride I take at work, somebody will mention what day it is (Is it Friday yet? You doing OK for a Monday?), or say something about the weather (Whew, it’s hot/cold/windy/rainy out there today), or ask me if I’m staying busy, which is really just an opening for them to tell me how busy THEY are, completely oblivious to the fact that I couldn’t possibly care less.

Another problem at work is you feel like you have to say hello every time you walk past somebody, even though it might be the 10th time you have passed them that day, because neither of you likes to work and is constantly getting up to go to the bathroom or the Coke machine. At what point is it OK to stop saying hello? How about this – the first time of the day you walk past a person, say hello. The second time, just nod. After that, you are free to pretend the other doesn’t exist.

This will spare me from having to endure comments such as, “Wow, we must be on the same bathroom schedule,” or “Do you just walk around the office all day?” Well, maybe I do, but there’s no need to point it out.

Does all this make me a curmudgeon, a grumpy old man? Perhaps so. Maybe if I get blessed enough times, one day I’ll start being nicer.