Polite Tourette’s

I know this isn’t anything new, but I have to say it anyway. Politeness is annoying. Beyond the initial saying of it, I try to bow politely to the constant interruption of excessive good mornings, good jobs and excuse me’s. The final straw came when someone came up behind me, while I was running on the treadmill, and gave the standard, “You must be tired” (common greeting) and I had to grab the bar to respond almost tumbling off. I wanted to hit him. WHO does that?! Can’t you see I’m running here? I can greet you when I come into the gym and when I leave, other than that, stop circulating and greeting me every hour! Seriously! Suddenly, the truth hit me like a pack of sumo’s: it’s a massive outbreak of Tourette’s Syndrome. People just get this irresistible tic to constantly use the 3 standard greetings and simply can’t help it. It has got to be said at least once an hour. Now that I understand, that makes things so much easier for me to accept. How can I blame people when it’s simply an automatic reflex?