"Bless you"

"Bless you."  That is what most people would say to somebody who sneezes.  As an atheist who suffer from allergic rhinitis and constant sneezing, I hear that a lot and it can get tiresome often.  I know it is only polite etiquette so I usually just ignores them.  Or if I can not ignore their "blessing", I would fake a "thank you" to be polite.

Last Sunday at a store, I sneezed.  This woman who heard me said "bless you".  I was so ready to just ignore her but she said "bless you" again louder to emphasize it to me.  She was obviously expecting me to thank her for the blessing she feels I got from her saying it.  So I just bluntly told her that I do not believe in her god.  And then proceed to fake thank her just to be polite.

As I said, I know people are just being polite by saying it.  But why can't they say "salud" or "gasundheit" which both means health?  I would rather get a positive energy towards my health than a blessing from some useless deity that do not exist.  It is high time people should stop assuming that we all believe in their god.  After all, we have stopped assuming that everybody celebrate christmas so now we do not say "merry christmas" during the holidays.  Instead we say "happy holidays".  It is about time.