Book of Daze Apologize for Something You Didn’t Do Day

“Sorry, I just … sorry.”

No one is accusing you. Nothing went wrong. No sirens have gone off. Still, you feel the need to whisper a diffident “sorry” into the void. Today is for you, then–chronic apologizer, guilt hoarders, my-bad brothers, and those who reflexively say “sorry” when someone bumps into them.

The origin of Book of Daze Apologize for Something You Didn’t Do Day, this walk-on-eggshells observance, can be traced to 1997, when Marlene Pinter of Columbus, Ohio, apologized to the office diffenbachia for not watering it–even though she was out sick and it wasn’t her plant. The moment was quietly powerful. The diffenbachia forgave her. An annual tradition was born.

Typical observances of Book of Daze Apologize for Something You Didn’t Do Day include apologizing to a waiter because your soup arrived too hot; saying “sorry” to a stranger you made eye contact with at Walgreens; or feeling an overwhelming urge to send a long email explaining why you might have sounded weird in a text from 2018.

Advanced practitioners often apologize preemptively: “Sorry if this sounds weird.” “Sorry, just one more thing.” “Sorry I exist.”

There are no formal rituals for Book of Daze Apologize for Something You Didn’t Do Day–just a gentle bow of shame and an invisible burden passed from one overly polite soul to another, like a sacred and unnecessary torch.

This record for the greatest number of apologies rendered on this day was set by Gregory “So Sorry” Wu of Portland, Oregon, in 2022. Gregory managed to apologize 742 times in 24 hours, including 31 times to a grocery store self-checkout machine that kept beeping. He later apologized for breaking the record, in case it made anyone feel bad.

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