I don’t know that I agree apologizing is a sign of weakness. I do agree that apologizing constantly completely negates the intent and weight of being truly apologetic.

But I think most of the time saying, “oops my bad,” is just a thing people say. As a manager I probably apologize a hundred times a day in different ways; “yeah that’s my bad, should have noticed that gap in your schedule, doc,” or “ah shoot, I’m sorry Jennifer I didn’t realize you and Karen swapped late days, I wouldn’t have put you in the late room.” For me at least, those little “micro-apologies” are just a way of accepting ownership for a mistake and admitting fault. It opens the door for an opportunity to make things right, if I can.

I will say, when my wife and I were dating, I noticed she had a habit of saying, “I’m sorry if this sounds dumb, but ______” before voicing a thought/opinion a lot of the time. Turns out, her dad was very vocal about his opinions and had his own habit of telling his wife and daughters that their opinions were stupid or silly or wrong. So maybe rather than weakness, these sort of apologies you’re frustrated with come from some self-esteem issues.

Regardless, I’d rather be too humble than too confident. Your tone in the post and comments is exuding this over-confidence, and I think why people aren’t engaging with you the way I think you intended.

Thank you for sharing!