I'm sorry?

From the very beginning of our lives we are taught how to say "I'm sorry" and to reply "It's okay." Simply put we are trained to apologize and forgive...correct?

Story time:

Today I attended the Greek Festival with family, of course I had my fun and certainly ate a lot. Problems arose when my cousin and I were discussing zombie movies. The beginning of my problem was that my pants were beginning to fall (I wore a belt to try to correct the issue), in response I quickly grabbed my jean's belt loop but I carelessly neglected to put my cup (only ice inside) down. And spilled 2 maybe 3 ice cubes on the sidewalk.

I quickly noticed that an ice cube bounced and touched a woman on the backside of her jeans who was seated on the grass. She quickly turned at her friends and said "You got to be shitting me!". She turned my direction, I immediately said "I'm sorry, did one of my ice cubes hit you?". She responded in a scolding voice "YES, you got my whole arm wet!".

I responded again "I'm sorry." Her friends asked her what happened, she explained that I got her whole arm wet. She proceeded to make me look like a criminal to her friends, meanwhile I had gotten a napkin from my mom. I interrupted her and asked "Do you need a napkin?"(I was holding the napkin out to her with my arm). She refused my napkin and demanded why I got her wet. Again "I'm sorry it was an accident." She hastily turned to her friends and continued eating. (She never wiped her arm.) Believing that this fiasco was over, I turned to my cousin and we continued discussing zombie movies. Maybe 2 minutes later she turns around in my direction and yells (yes she literally yelled) in Spanish (what I believe she said in Spanish, I speak a little Spanish) "YOU WANT TO TALK WE'LL TALK!".

I was stunned but again I repeated "I'm sorry I got you wet.". Her friends looked at me and her and told us that its over stop. She proceeded to holler at me in Spanish (she talked to fast, I couldn't catch all the words.) In a act of good gesture I asked "Did I get your food wet, I'll pay to replace your meal." She paused to catch her breath and continued to insult me. I had reached my limit, I was so frustrated I screamed at her "WHAT DO YOU WANT?! I said I'm sorry! I offered to pay for your food and offered you a napkin, I cant do anything else!" She immediately stopped and turned away ending the fiasco.

This is not the only incident I can attest to witness to, although less dramatic I've seen other instances occur in my family, friends, and strangers.

Has saying "I'm sorry" lost it's meaning, did it ever have meaning or can you only meet anger with anger?

*I'm sorry, but I'm not that good at organizing posts.*
*Also my family was their, I excluded their voices because throught the whole thing they kept repeating "He said he's sorry", "It was an accident" etc.*


Discuss/Share Experiences