Printable View
This irritates me. You just received good service at a restaurant, or other service provider, maybe even a cashier -- and you say "thank you." The response is "no problem" instead of "you're welcome."
Why don't they say "you're welcome"? And where did "no problem" come from"
Alan,
To me "No problem" does not show appreciation for an act of kindness. "No problem" implies that if the act had been an inconvenience, they probably would not have done it.
What is there to forgive if you get good service? "No problem" is a change in our verbal culture that started in the 80's.
Do you think saying "It was no trouble" means the same as "no problem?" "It was no trouble" still implies a negative. "Thank you" and "you're welcome" or better yet
"glad to help" would be the proper thing to say.
I'm sure there are many studies and theories on this, and I will endeavor to do some research.
My initial reaction is that, in a culture where such a high percentage of people find themselves a part of a service economy, language changes. Service economy language that once acknowledged and reflected the existence of classes and socioeconomic differences is now changing to put server and served on more equal ground. So instead of a polite (and perhaps semi-subordinate) "You're welcome," we now get the "no problem," which puts both parties on a more equal footing. In fact, it kind of shouts, "We're equals!" in its implication that if there were a problem, the served might be out of luck.
That's an interesting idea about language changing and the phrase "no problem" means server and customer are on equal ground.
But when a customer says to me "thank you, Alan, that was a good video" I always respond with "you're welcome and thank you for your business."
In fact, instead of being told "no problem" by a cashier or waiter or waitress or store clerk, how about a "thank you for your business" with a smile?
Oh, I'm not saying I agree with it, Alan. I find it jarring in its own way. I distinctly remember the first person who said it to me consistently. That was maybe 15 years ago, and since then, I've come to hear it quite often. It's still a bit jarring to me.
When I was dating a UK girl, I was often surprised to hear her refer to retail transactions as "serving," but that is indeed what they are. I think we in this country have been brought up with a real sensitivity to any language that exposes a class system and socioeconomic disparities. We prefer to pretend we can all do bootstrap hoisting and all be in the top 1% somehow. Now that a huge chunk of our people are in service industries, I think there may be an even stronger push to hide the class disparities by "evening out" the language in server/served exchanges.
how about "con mucho gusto"?