When someone apologizes "for everything" and doesn't specify what they are sorry for, do you feel it's a genuine apology or BS?

[ShimkairCandle]

It's genuine

It's BS

[caring__1]

An apology that doesn't state the specifics of what the person is apologizing for, along with what the person plans to do differently in the future, is not a true apology. It's just a means to get you off his/her back, so the incident can be swept under the rug. When you allow it to happen, this becomes a non-issue that will never be revisited by the person apologizing. Nothing is learned and nothing will change.

[HighlyVolatile]

I never really think so much about the sincerity of it unless it sounds particularly insincere. Mostly I'm trying to figure out if they're going to do whatever they're apologizing for again. Being sorry about everything doesn't give me much to work with to boost my confidence that whatever they've done won't happen again.

[ShimkairCandle]

Yeah that last thing you said. A blanket apology is pretty weak to me.

[HighlyVolatile]

It's possible it's very sincere and heartfelt like maybe the person got a wake-up call and realized how badly they mistreated someone else. I've had to learn through my life experiences and also my work to look at things less in terms of sincerity and try to assign a likelihood of whether these things will happen again, and whether it's worth taking the risk.

[ShimkairCandle]

This can and does happen. I don't think that it would come with a blanket apology.

[DenizLikesTennis]

Reading it... It sounds like as if the person got used to apologizing to the point it became a habit whatever there is. Even in unexplainable Situations.

[Gwenhwyfar]

Could be either really. Ask him to specify.