season's greetings

A couple weeks or so ago, I was having lunch with some people at work. As we were leaving, one of the guys wished me a merry Christmas. He then got a horrified look on his face and hemmed and hawed an addendum. "Oh, wait...you don;t celebrate Christmas. You do...Chanukah! Happy Channukah."

Why can't people calm the frick down? If he had left it at Merry Christmas it would have been fine.

But these days it can seem like you can't be too careful; if you give the wrong greeting you risk the incurring the wrath of someone with too thin a skin.

That said, I think people overestimate the chances of getting in trouble for the wrong greeting. Most folks are reasonable, aren't they?

Seriously, though, I (and, I presume, most people) won't take offense at any seasonal greeting that's intended in a friendly spirit. That's just common decency.