Even the groups that are tolerant to crying will respond with a flurry of fussiness even when the person is saying "please ignore me, I'm okay." A lot of these things would be much easier if we could just cry or puke and count on everyone else to respond the way we tell them to respond.

Very much agreed, and that's a lot of what I strive for in my own behavior. I've found a few people pick up on it, too, which is always pleasing to see little ripples of change.