You would think I would have learned to put away my net before speaking to neighbors by now!!

It seems like almost every time a villager runs up to me wanting to speak, they always seem so happy and excited to share whatever tidbit they have at the moment, and I press 'A' and accidentally smack them right in the face with a net (or shovel)!! Or, sometimes I go up to them to initiate the convo first and end up whacking them out of the blue.
It sucks so bad because then I lose the conversation opportunity!  They stop smiling, the floaty flowers disappear, and  they no longer wish to speak to me (rightfully so!). I'm sure I've lost so many opportunities because of this.

It's funny too because I know they are just NPC's and are part of a game but I always feel so awful afterwards! I don't even particularly like any of my neighbors, I've yet to get a character that I truly want, but still... smacking them with the net, even accidentally, feels so wrong!

I did this to Hippeaux twice earlier. I felt awful, I hate when people bully their villagers.

I once thought I hit Eloise with a net when going up to talk with her and it turns out I caught a flea off her.

Lol, Tbearpuppy that is so funny! I wish I was that lucky!!

If you hold the A button down, it seems like it doesn't hit them.

I developed a habit years ago in NL of putting away my tools before talking to a villager for exactly this reason. I find myself putting away harmless things like umbrellas and then my character gets all wet

I never had this problem in previous games but in this game it took me a good while to fight the learning curve. I hate hitting any villager myself so it was frustrating. Now I ram in to anyone when I go up to talk to them if I have a tool out.

I don't know which one would annoy them more though...

Same thing happened to me with Rory! I felt so bad
Since then, I always put my tools away when they wanna talk.

LOL I did it to Stitches and Bertha. Same with trying to get a flea off Stitches later, I bopped him instead.