# How do you react to accidents that hurt/inconvenience you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 18, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033 "2012-09-18T01:50:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033/21 "2012-09-18T19:18:24Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Years ago, I went to a restaurant with friends. A waiter sloshed about a half-dollar size splash of ice water on my back between my shoulders, looked at it, and Gave you a blank stare? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033/22 "2012-09-18T19:20:14Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Gave you a blank stare? Fat-fingered on the “Send” button before I was ready. Bastard waiters… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033/23 "2012-09-18T20:43:48Z")
Accidents don’t bother me, unless your apology is in such a snarky way that I think you did it on purpose. It’s only happened once, but it was freaking obvious. I dealt with it appropriately. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033/24 "2012-09-18T22:34:37Z")
“Shit Happens.” If you want to make it up to me, fine–that’s very sweet and unusual of you, but all I really expect is for you to go about your business and let me fix what you just screwed up. Can’t say really what I’d do in the face of an intentional act apart from “try to get away.” But intentional acts occupy a very broad spectrum of malice and warrant varying degrees of retalliation. Accidents, however damaging, are accidents. No malice from you, then none from me. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033/25 "2012-09-18T23:21:05Z")
As long as I get a sincere apology all is good for minor incidents. What pisses me off more because it happens more than accidents is doing something helpfull for a stranger, and not getting any sort of “thank you” as an acknowledgement. I usually can’t help by responding with a sarcastic “You’re welcome” ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033/26 "2012-09-19T01:33:34Z")
> [@Ibanez](#): > > As long as I get a sincere apology all is good for minor incidents. What pisses me off more because it happens more than accidents is doing something helpfull for a stranger, and not getting any sort of “thank you” as an acknowledgement. > > I usually can’t help by responding with a sarcastic “You’re welcome” My boyfriend does that a lot. In Korea people are pretty rude by Western standards - for example, almost no one holds the door open for the person behind them. Once my boyfriend held a door open for me and a random dude shoved me out of the way and strode through the door without even a “thank you.” My boyfriend yelled “YOU’RE WELCOME!” at his back but the guy didn’t even turn around. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033/27 "2012-09-19T04:04:42Z")
I try to keep reminding myself that if get upset with people, I just end up being doubly harmed: First, \*they \*harm me (and the more I focus on it, the more I \*let _them harm me) and then_ I harm myself \*by having a bunch of negative emotions. These days, I try to just let shit go and get on with my life in as few milliseconds as possible. Actually, that goes for both big things and small things. The same goes for those accidents that just happen for no reason. I can’t control the universe. I can only control myself. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033/28 "2012-09-19T04:19:18Z")
A couple of years ago, we were checking out stops for a motorcycle run. This run would have had at least 200 bikes stopping, so we needed to be sure that the places would know how to handle the crowd. As the owner was trying to sell us on his place, he knocked my beer over on my lap. Not only did he not notice, none of his staff noticed until I started grabbing papertowels to mop myself down and clean up the mess. No offer of a replacement beer, no apology, nobody noticed what was happening until I went to the bar with the soggy napkins and asked for a mop. We didn’t use that place for a beer/bio break stop. Another time, different bar, a waitress dumped a full tray of drinks on me. She apologized to me, comped all of our beers, and cleaned up while being nice and trying to make things right. We use that bar for every run. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033/29 "2012-09-19T11:09:47Z")
I’ve had a full pint of beer tipped all over my legs (when another patron tried to put his drink down on a table that wasn’t there). I stank like a brewery for rest of the night, but I just laughed. He was more concerned that his 9th pint of the night was no longer in the glass, and was trying to figure out what had happened to it. I’ve had several people open car doors into my kneecaps when I’m walking on the pavement. I shrug it off. The only time I got angry was when a woman pulled out from a junction without looking and ran into my car. The expression on her face suggested I’d no right being where I was (um, actually…), and when I lifted my 6ft frame from the Ford Fiesta I was driving, she couldn’t apologise quickly enough. Sometimes it’s good to be tall! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-react-to-accidents-that-hurt-inconvenience-you/635033.md?page=1)