Mea maxima culpa

Someone apologised to me at work today, in an email I received at the end of the day. I'm not entirely sure why.

Considering that I'm the type of person who will apologise at the drop of a hat (quite literally - "You dropped your hat? Oh, I am sorry"), I've never been entirely comfortable being on the receiving the end of someone else's mea culpa. In general I consider other peoples apologies to be unnecessary things. I can sense contrition (a tingling sensation at the nape of my neck, in case you were wondering - it's common to all catholics) across a crowded room, so the need to put it into words often seems superfluous.

Of course, this usually assumes that I understand the reasons why someone might actually want to say sorry, and that just wasn't the case today. I'd been discussing a problem with a colleague and we seemed to arrive at a conclusion after much to'ing and fro'ing about what might be the best approach. I'm well aware that I have a terrier-like approach to debating, which is to grab hold of a point in my teeth, shake it about a bit, and refuse to let go of it regardless of what other tasty morsels might be dangled in front of me (though I might drop if it my tummy is tickled). I'm certainly aware that such an approach can be immensely frustrating for other people, but when it comes to discussing things in the abstract like this I'm usually fairly thick skinned myself. I definitely wasn't upset over anything that was said and I thought we parted amiably, hence my surprise when I later received the email. I wonder now if I might have been a little too... animated in some of my responses.

I'll have to track down my colleague tomorrow and find out exactly what she thought happened. I'm sure it's all been a misunderstand for which I suspect I'll end up apologising myself... though I'll try my best to refrain.