My name is Eric, I’m 34, and I work in an office in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For years, I had one very specific workplace habit:
Every time someone sneezed, I said “gesundheit.”
Without fail.
Didn’t matter who it was.
Didn’t matter where I was.
Conference room, break room, open office — if I heard a sneeze, I responded like a reflex.
“Gesundheit.”
At some point, it became so automatic that people started expecting it.
If someone sneezed twice, they’d get two “gesundheits.”
If they sneezed three times, I’d deliver all three like a dedicated public service.
I didn’t think much of it.
It was just one of those small, polite habits.
Until recently.
A few weeks ago, I decided — for no real reason — to stop.
Not because I was annoyed.
Not because anything happened.
I just realized I didn’t actually know why I was doing it anymore.
So one Monday morning, I made a quiet decision:
No more gesundheit.
The first test came quickly.
A coworker sneezed from across the office.
Silence.
I said nothing.
It felt… strange.
Like I had skipped a step in some kind of invisible social routine.
But I stuck with it.
Over the next few days, I continued the experiment.
Sneezes happened.
I stayed quiet.
That’s when things started getting weird.
One coworker sneezed near my desk, then looked at me.
Waiting.
I made eye contact, nodded slightly, and went back to typing.
She frowned.
Later that day, another coworker sneezed twice and then said out loud:
“Wow… no gesundheit?”
I laughed it off and said I was trying something new.
He looked genuinely confused.
By the end of the week, I started noticing a shift in how people were reacting to me.
A couple coworkers seemed slightly distant.
One person asked if I was okay.
Another asked if they had done something to upset me.
That’s when it hit me.
Apparently, my consistent “gesundheit” habit had become part of how people interpreted my friendliness.
And by removing it…
I had unintentionally removed a tiny, but noticeable, piece of social interaction.
Yesterday, someone sneezed near me and then jokingly said:
“Guess you don’t care anymore.”
Now I’m stuck in a very strange situation.
Because I didn’t stop saying gesundheit to send a message.
But somehow, it’s being received as one.
At this point, I’m debating whether to quietly bring it back…
Or fully commit to living in a world where sneezes are met with complete silence.
Which, apparently, is much more socially complicated than I expected.
