Quote:
Originally Posted by pokerponcho
To me, this is very phony, and I just do not think like that.
I'll concede it's phony. But it's a very common situation, both in and out of the poker room.
Let's say you're walking out of the bathroom and open the door into someone - do you make a detailed analysis of who was at fault (you for opening the door too quickly or him for standing right by the door), or do you just apologize?
Let's say you push back from the poker table and knock over someone's drink. Do you make an analysis of who's at fault, or do you apologize?
Let's say your coworker launches into some life bad beat story about how his mom got cancer. You may or may not care and you may or may not think she deserved it, but do you say that you're sorry to hear that anyway?
And sure, when the stakes are higher, it makes sense to be more careful about when to apologize. In a car accident? Never apologize, you're basically conceding fault. Guy at the club wants you to buy him new $500 shoes? It's fine to push back and point out he's on the dance floor with an open drink. But at low stakes, passing interactions, overapologizing carries nearly zero penalty and underapologizing carries a large penalty (especially when alcohol and money are involved).