Anybody else annoyed by "Bless you"?

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I hate it when people say "bless you" (or similar) after I sneeze. I know they mean well. I know the origin of the phrase, that it's supposed to be "polite", it's tradition, etc., etc. But knowing all that on some rational level doesn't change the fact that it really annoys me. I successfully ignore it most of the time, but still can't help thinking it.

I'll try to explain why. Sneezing in itself is already unpleasant for me. It interrupts whatever I'm doing. It's out of my control and I don't enjoy that. It's basically my body malfunctioning! And what people are doing is making a comment. When I cough they don't feel the need to make a comment. When I fart they don't feel the need to make a comment. Yet when I sneeze, for some reason, they feel the need to make a comment! It's like they're saying "hey, look - you just sneezed!" I want to reply "Oh really? Thank you for pointing it out or I may not have noticed!" The thing is, I just want to forget about the sneeze and get back to whatever I was doing as soon as possible, hopefully before something disappears from my short-term memory (eg. if I'm programming), but now, in addition to processing the sneeze itself I have to process their comment and then my mental reaction to their comment. I start thinking something like "damn it, it's so stupid and unnecessary and unpleasant and right now I know I'm now supposed to be thanking them for it, but I won't, damn it! I wonder if they'll think I'm rude because of that? Maybe they'll say "bless you" again and keep distracting me and... aaarrrgh!!"

OK, it's not really as bad as I described all the time, but still... What's your reaction to it?

I don't care either way, I don't react to someone saying bless you. My guess is that its common curtesy to say thank you, but I often forget to say thanks in that situation.

I'm not, because I'm a Christian.

I generally appreciate it from a perspective of someone taking a moment to acknowledge an action that is generally unpleasant to you.

I just really hate it when people say it before you actually sneeze, derailing the entire experience.

I'm a non-practicing Christian, but I often say "bless you" when someone sneezes just to be polite or show sympathy to the sneezer. It's kind of like if someone was coughing and I asked "Are you okay"? When someone says bless you to me, it's not a big fat religious deal, I usually just say thanks. I know the whole thing originally started because either because your heart stops each time you sneeze or people used to believe your soul was trying to escape. Or is that when you yawn?

I'm not religious, but I kind of like it - I think it's meant to be supportive.

I find it slightly annoying, but not unbearable. I usualy just ignore people who say it, I think its kind of idiotic that some people have the compulsion to say it to show some kind of kindness. Secondly it's religous nature annoys me aswell, the majority of people in the modern age who are intelligent free thinking people will usually be atheist/agnostic or vaguely religous and saying 'bless you' seems like a useless term. If people really cared about it so much when someone sneezed they should formulate a proper responce to the occurence, otherwise most people don't really care but say it without thinking becuase they want to be 'polite'.

Hate it with vengence. I hate having my non-verbal communication interpreted and/or acted on.

I don't really like it so I just ignore it. I don't like it because it seems religious and because I'm not interested in people drawing attention to my involuntary bodily noises.

I dislike it, because every time I sneeze I have to stop working for a while and respond "thank you" to people. I feel also forced to say "bless you" when someone sneezes. It's annoying when I'm focused on something.

It bugs me.

"Bless me? Oh, why? Have I sinned or something? Or are you just trying to annoy me?"

Kinda annoys me, I don't see a purpose to lengthening the time wasted on my involuntary interruption, plus the religious aspect slightly annoys me too, but not as much.

cool icon btw!

Its better to give than to recieve.

I get alot of good vibes from the surrounding group when I SAY "bless you" at work when someone else coughs alot or sneezes.

Its one of the few social skills I have.
So im proud of it!

Lol!

In regards to recieving a "bless you"- I never think about it one way or the other.

Yes! I think those two quotes are both good ways to explain how I feel about it. People are reacting to something I "said" as if I chose to say it when they know full well I had no control over it. Good to know I'm not the only one at least.

It's fine by me, but when I have an allergy attack and sneeze over and over and they just keep repeating it, I get annoyed. Acknowledge the first sneeze out of politeness, the second out of sympathy for a bad attack and that's enough. Don't act like a broken record.