# Person who doesn't respond at all to "Happy holidays" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 15, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-doesnt-respond-at-all-to-happy-holidays/844906 "2019-12-15T20:26:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-doesnt-respond-at-all-to-happy-holidays/844906/62 "2019-12-23T18:05:00Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I had one customer yesterday who, when I gave her the obligatory “Happy Holidays” responded with a snarled “Merry Christmas.” > > As I tell people, the only December holiday I celebrate is my Birthday. You and Jesus. (Did any of the Roman centurions stop and ask “We’re crucifying this guy? Hasn’t his life sucked enough already with his birthday on Christmas day? I mean, there’s no way he gets as many presents that way.”) > [@madmonk28](#): > > New Years isn’t your holiday? Yeah, I refuse to acknowledge the year changing, too. I’m on my 65th _1954_ and I’ve saved so much money on champagne and party hats that I can afford a new Thunderbird (at 1954 prices it’s only $2944). ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-doesnt-respond-at-all-to-happy-holidays/844906/63 "2019-12-23T20:05:27Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I find that “Right back atcha, slick” is the perfect one-size-fits-all reply for overly-specific greetings and well-wishes that I cannot in good conscience reply to on par. This is my approach, though usually “To you as well” or “And to you”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-doesnt-respond-at-all-to-happy-holidays/844906/64 "2019-12-23T23:40:29Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > This is my approach, though usually “To you as well” or “And to you”. Mind if I adopt those? My rubber-glue thing just isn’t working for me. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-doesnt-respond-at-all-to-happy-holidays/844906/65 "2019-12-24T03:39:31Z")
> [@Dana\_Scully](#): > > not rude. A lot of us aren’t morning persons and just don’t respond the way YOU think we should. By keeping quiet, they might be refraining from actually BEING rude. Wrong. Etiquette-wise, it **is** officially discourteous to give no response to a courteous greeting (unless it’s from a random stranger on the street who has no business addressing you in the first place). Admittedly, silently ignoring an acquaintance politely greeting you is **less** rude than snarling _“Oh shut the fuck up”_ at them or whatever it is that you’re refraining from saying, but that doesn’t mean it’s **not** rude. If you are doing it deliberately to show your disdain for the acquaintance who greeted you, it’s called the “cut direct”. If you are simply failing to respond because you don’t feel like responding, it’s ordinary garden-variety rudeness. As [Miss Manners notes](https://books.google.com/books?id=0TwCA4oWv-cC&pg=PT125&lpg=PT125), > [@](#): > > It is rude to greet another person’s remarks with silence, even if no question has been asked. If you really are such a not-a-morning-person that you absolutely can’t even muster up a nod or halfway-pleasant grunt in response to an acquaintance wishing you “good morning” in passing, the way to avoid being rude is to seek out the acquaintance at some later time of day when you **are** capable of human communication, and explain to them that you can’t stand even the most minimal human communication in the morning so you hope they won’t take it personally that you’re just ignoring their greetings. I think it sounds like less trouble just to do the nod or grunt, but that’s up to you. What’s not up to you is whether silently ignoring an acquaintance’s polite greeting is conventionally considered rude behavior. It is, even if you don’t like the fact. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-doesnt-respond-at-all-to-happy-holidays/844906/66 "2019-12-24T15:09:50Z")
Some people on my cashier line will say “Have a happy” or even ask “What do you celebrate?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-doesnt-respond-at-all-to-happy-holidays/844906.md?page=3)