He Stepped Out to Blow His Nose During a Buddhist Chant — Now He Thinks He Offended His Host
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Trying to be respectful can unexpectedly backfire when someone sees things differently than you do.
One man ran into that while attending a Buddhist chant at a friend of a friend’s house.
Because he’s allergic to the host’s cats, he sometimes needs to step away and blow his nose.
Rather than do it in the living room during prayer, he walks just inside the kitchen and throws the tissue away.
But the problem is that the host has started giving him uneasy looks and even hands him tissues when he returns.
Read on for the full scoop.
AITA for going into another room of someone’s house to blow my nose?
I attend a Buddhist chant held in the living room of a friend of a friend’s house. The host of the chant owns cats, which I’m allergic to.
Once or twice during the chant, I’ll go to the kitchen to blow my nose and dispose of my tissue.
He seems bothered by me doing this, side-eyeing me and looking uneasy while I’m in the kitchen.
Basically, he’s just trying to be respectful of everyone.
When I return to my seat, he always hands me tissues (even though I’m clearly already holding a pack of tissues in my hand?), and I say, “No thanks, I already have tissues.”
I realize you’re not supposed to go into other rooms of people’s homes, but wouldn’t it be worse to loudly blow my nose while people are chanting and praying?
I stand just past the entryway of the kitchen, about 10 ft. from where the host sits, and I stay within eyesight of him so he can see that I’m just blowing my nose and disposing of the tissue, not rummaging through his fridge or anything.
Now, he’s not sure what to do in the future.
I don’t go into the bathroom to blow my nose because the kitchen is much closer to where I sit. In order to go to the bathroom, I’d have to walk through the living room full of people, which would be more disruptive to the chant.
I don’t want to offend the host, but he’s making me kind of uncomfortable.
I’m also not sure why he keeps handing me more tissues after I blow my nose when he can see that I already have some. All I’m doing is quickly excusing myself into another room to blow my nose, and I try to be mindful of staying within his eyesight and not being disruptive to the chant.
AITA?
Yikes. That does sound like an uncomfortable spot to be in.
Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit would handle it.
According to this comment, he should ask to use the restroom.
That’s a good question.
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For this reader, the host should know better.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an uncle who is surprised to find his niece’s birthday party all about him after one unkind comment.
This is probably a thought for most people.
The best thing to do is just ask.
At this point, having a private conversation with the host seems like the easiest way to clear everything up.
He can explain that he’s only trying to not interrupt the chant and ask where the host would rather he go.
That way, there’s no more guessing, and both of them can stop feeling uncomfortable.
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