I used to only hear it sporadically but nowadays I feel like I am hearing constantly. At first it didn't bother me, but now it's beginning to strike a nerve. I don't know if it's my line of work or not, but I'd say I'm hearing it, at least once a day now.
More often than not it's a sneezeless, "god bless you" in lieu of the gold standard of goodbyes: "have a nice day". Is that really a decent substitute? When I say "have a nice day", I might not even really mean it- it might just roll off my tongue absent-mindedly. You know what that is? That's awesome! I think about all of the times I have said, "have a nice day" and I ask myself... am I really committing to what I'm saying? I mean, do I really feel strongly that this person have a nice day? Will I be distraught if this person has a not-so-nice day? How will I know if they are having a nice day? Should I do a follow-up phone call to check?
But this "god bless you" thing that's all the rage.. well, frankly, if you're going to be bringing god into it- I expect you to really mean it. It can't be cursory. If we're not talking a post-sneeze "bless you" then you really had better commit to asking your lord to bless me. You can't request a half-arsed blessing for a stranger from the very Creator his/herself! You need to crave that blessing- you're the one invoking his lordship- make it count! I mean, you don't want to say "may god bless you" to the lady behind the counter at the donut shop who just served you lukewarm coffee when a "have a nice day" would really be more fitting to the situation, do you? What? May god bless her with warmer coffee pots, maybe? And goodness knows- she works at a donut shop- I think she probably feels blessed enough, don't you think?
And heaven forbid...how many times have I encountered a rude person and uttered under my breath "have a nice day" in a sarcastic manner?
How many of these god-blessers are really sarcastically thinking "Well, god bless you, missy!" Something to think about...hmm?
Truth is, I usually say "you too" when someone assumes a higher power needs to be involved in a basic "see you later" -type of scenario. But that's just because I haven't yet found a way to work "she sure has!", "Satan always does!" or "Allah be with you too" into the conversation without offending the "blesser". But I'd really hate to offend someone "blessing" me with their beliefs by pointing out that I might have completely different beliefs. After all, it was never about wishing me well, was it? Not really. Maybe they should have just wished me "have a nice(ish) day" and been done with it.