# Please don't wish every woman you see tomorrow a happy Mother's Day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2019, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467 "2019-05-04T13:01:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![UnwittingAmericans](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d9b06d/32.png) [@UnwittingAmericans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwittingAmericans)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/81 "2019-05-13T12:41:34Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > How do you look yourself in the mirror? Please, there could be vampires in here. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/82 "2019-05-13T12:50:58Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > The world doesn’t revolve around your pain. Or my pain. What if you’re at a restaurant and the staff announces Billy and Susie are celebrating twenty years of marriage and your partner of 25 years just recently died? Other people don’t stop being happy and they don’t stop expressing that just because you and I might be miserable. There’s a difference between a peripheral celebration going on nearby and something that you are supposedly part of (like a church congregation) singling out people in a manner that leaves you out in the cold. No, the world doesn’t revolve around an individual’s pain. Neither should we ignore the pain of those around us or how our actions affect them regardless of whether the effects are intentional or not. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/83 "2019-05-13T12:51:13Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > The world doesn’t revolve around your pain. Or my pain. What if you’re at a restaurant and the staff announces Billy and Susie are celebrating twenty years of marriage and your partner of 25 years just recently died? Other people don’t stop being happy and they don’t stop expressing that just because you and I might be miserable. Why not give out awards for being wealthy then? “Stand up and get a prize for being happy and comfortable! You don’t get recognized enough!” ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/84 "2019-05-13T13:29:24Z")
Happy birthday, **Chefguy**! ---
**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:** [May 13, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/85 "2019-05-13T14:36:58Z")
I stopped at the local 7-eleven before work. The male clerk is wishing all the women 'Happy Mother’s Day." The woman in front of me shoots back “Same to you.” I used that line with seven men who wished me that when I was at my cashier’s job. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/86 "2019-05-13T17:50:58Z")
Used the _“Thanks, you too”_ response a few times yesterday. Only one person (a guy) came back with _“But **I’m** not a mother!”_ Which got him my second standard response, a cheerful matter-of-fact _“Neither am I”_. Then he mistakenly felt he needed to apologize, and was awkwardly mumbling something when I delivered my Round 3 (and favorite) standard response, _“That’s okay, I’ll say Happy Arbor Day to people who aren’t trees, too”_. I think he may still be trying to figure that one out. 🙂 ---
**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:** [May 13, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/87 "2019-05-13T18:06:40Z")
Yeah, last month I had quite a few people wish me a Happy Easter. I just said “Thank you.” I once told a woman who did so I was a pagan and she said “Happy Solstice.” Actually, in spring it is “Happy Equinox” (Ostara is the proper name) but I just said “Thank you.” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/88 "2019-05-13T23:38:18Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > There’s a difference between a peripheral celebration going on nearby and something that you are supposedly part of (like a church congregation) singling out people in a manner that leaves you out in the cold. If I go to a tractor pull on Father’s Day why should it bother me for the announcer to ask all fathers to stand and for us to applaud them? I would have liked to have had children but that’s not in the cards for me and my own father passed away years ago. Do I feel a twinge of sadness when I’m reminded of these things? Sure. Do I expect everyone else to cease from celebrating for fear of making me sad? No. Of course not. > [@](#): > > No, the world doesn’t revolve around an individual’s pain. Neither should we ignore the pain of those around us or how our actions affect them regardless of whether the effects are intentional or not. I agree we shouldn’t ignore it. At the same time that doesn’t mean we spoil it for everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/89 "2019-05-14T00:00:12Z")
My god the self involvement required to be insulted by something like this. OMG, all the mothers in church got flowers! Why didn’t I get flowers just because I’m barren/nobody put a baby in me!?! I don’t tell strangers “happy mothers day” , that’s a little silly, but the sentiment that it should only be said in hushed tones so as to not offend is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/90 "2019-05-14T02:17:55Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > If I go to a tractor pull on Father’s Day why should it bother me for the announcer to ask all fathers to stand and for us to applaud them? I would have liked to have had children but that’s not in the cards for me and my own father passed away years ago. Do I feel a twinge of sadness when I’m reminded of these things? Sure. Do I expect everyone else to cease from celebrating for fear of making me sad? No. Of course not. > > I agree we shouldn’t ignore it. At the same time that doesn’t mean we spoil it for everyone else. I agree - if you go to, say, a tractor pull on father’s day and they want all the dads to stand that’s one thing. It happens one time, right? Just once. Shrug it off, sure. But when I am stuck at work, dealing with the public for an eight hour shift aside from short breaks, and I hear over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over “happy mother’s day” that is an entirely different thing. It’s unrelenting and I _can not_ step away. For eight solid hours. More than twenty times an hour for eight hours if we’re busy. Even when I go to the restroom or lunch I hear it. It’s not just a momentary twinge of sadness it’s _three hundred or more_ moments of sadness/twinges in a day. NO ONE is asking that people stop saying “happy mother’s day”. What we’re asking is that you stop saying it to _strangers_. Don’t say it to people who aren’t your relatives or you don’t know well. Say it to your mother and be happy doing it. I was really glad I was working cash office this year on mother’s day, I only had to hear it two or three times the whole day. Much less aggravating. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/91 "2019-05-14T11:58:07Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > NO ONE is asking that people stop saying “happy mother’s day”. What we’re asking is that you stop saying it to _strangers_. Don’t say it to people who aren’t your relatives or you don’t know well. Say it to your mother and be happy doing it. Yes, please. ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/92 "2019-05-14T13:45:59Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > My god the self involvement required to be insulted by something like this. OMG, all the mothers in church got flowers! Why didn’t I get flowers just because I’m barren/nobody put a baby in me!?! Since I joined this board, I haven’t agreeed with virtually anything I have read from you, but I am 100% complete agreement with you here. The Perpetually Offended/Victim Mentality in 2019’s America is disgusting, people need to grow up, tere are hundreds of millions of people on Earth who face real suffering each day, not petty, trivial nonsense like the fact that someone innocently wished them a nice day. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467/93 "2019-05-14T14:55:50Z")
Ah, in other words you hold yourself out as the judge of whether or not another person’s suffering is worthy of attention/sympathy as well as being the arbiter of whether people have a right to speak up about how they’re feeling. You know, 2019 American arrogance is pretty disgusting, too. Also, handy excuse that a person never has to change his/her behavior because anyone who finds such a person a rude jerk is just an overly-sensitive snowflake, right? Not judgmental at all… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-wish-every-woman-you-see-tomorrow-a-happy-mothers-day/833467.md?page=4)