Showerthought: does saying 'sorry' too much actually make you look weak or just polite?

I was at the grocery line last week and this guy bumped into me, apologized like 5 times, and I thought he was nice but my friend whispered that he seemed like a pushover. What do you think, does over-apologizing backfire or is it just being decent?

2 comments

2 Comments

williamhill13d ago

Right, so your friend is that person in every group who thinks confidence means never saying sorry. I bet they also think holding eye contact too long makes you look "dominant" like a weird lizard or something. Over-apologizing does look weak if you're doing it for every tiny thing, like apologizing to a chair you bumped into. But the grocery line guy probably just wanted to get out of your way fast, not negotiate a peace treaty. The real secret is that nobody actually remembers the apology after 20 seconds anyway. They remember if you were weird about it or not. People who never apologize just look like they think they're better than everyone else. Sorry. I mean, I'm not sorry for saying that.

piper91213d ago

Honestly, @williamhill, you changed my whole mind on this.