There’s an older woman I know that drives me nuts because she apologizes ALL the time. That may make me sound like a jerk but her constant apologizing made me stop and think if I was saying that phrase “I’m sorry” just a little too often.
I used to work for this woman and even back then she was a constant apologizer. It made her look good because it was harder to be upset with her for dropping the ball on a project when she immediately broke into “I’m so sorry, please forgive me.” But as time passed and her typical apology response became the norm, it got very frustrating for everyone involved. Why? Because she was apologizing for the same things over and over again.
Now I can’t correct her and tell her what to change, but I learned a lesson by watching her. Anytime I begin to see myself apologizing for repeat behavior, I take notice. I would ask myself “What can I do to change that so I don’t irritate others by apologizing over and over for the same mistakes?”
Apologizing is a good thing, but we should be learning from those mistakes and doing our best not to repeat them. Repeat apologies are not polite, they can be incredibly rude if you do not take the time to find out where the root of the problem lies and take responsibility to resolve it.
