RL. honey bees, when away from their hives are all business, ("busy as a bee"), either looking for nectar, pollen, water, or on rare occasions; considering swarming season, a new place to live. Even then they are not aggressive, you can actually walk into an active swarm of thousand and thousands of bees and not be stung. Generally speaking honey bees have no interest in looking for confrontation. As Member and Mark mentioned they wish to live and let live. A honey bee is capable stinging once and only once. They naturally know this. Unlike a wasp or hornet which can and will sting multiple times and live to tell about it :-)
On the other hand, if a honey bee stings, her stinger will be pulled and ripped away from her body, dismembering her (sure death). Honey bees sting as a last resort for a self defence act. Such as when being mashed as stated earlier. Many times when folks are stung, and honey bees are in the area, the honey bee gets the blame almost every time, when in reality it may be a wasp or some other type stinging insect. If the stinger is intact at the place of the sting, then it is a honey bee sting. Otherwise.........
I hope this helps ease and puts to rest your concerns..