Wait... you got a sales clerk on the phone to ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR PRESENCE?

I want to shop where you shop...

I once wrote to you about my experience with minimalist service at Sears. With that in mind, I sometimes think that a guy saying "no problem" is now the standard for service, especially in a big retail-chain store.

I agree that there is condescension in much of this human interaction. I work in the heart of downtown Cleveland, and thus use the same restaurants, parking garages, etc. as lawyers and bankers, and the grovelling careerists who work for these. So many of these people try to portray themselves as superbusy Type-A worldbeaters, exempt from the rules and niceties of civil behavior. Personally, I think that someone who needs to conduct business on a cellphone while eating in a restaurant or walking on the sidewalk does not know how to manage his time. I may be annoyed by the guy at Home Depot, but I despise these phonies in pinstripe suits (and their female equivalents).

By the way, have you taken down your Chris Webber posters yet? Seriously, we need more of this disciplinary action, not only by the NCAA, but also by the NBA, NFL, etc. What has been going on in college and professional sports for the past 30-35 years is sickening.

Here in Cleveland, two former Cleveland State basketball heroes (with full-tuition scholarships) were sentenced to four years in prison for robbing Indians' pitcher C. C. Sabathia at gunpoint. Undoubtedly, if they had become NBA stars, neither would be spending a day in the can. Instead, they'd be free to drive their solid-gold Mercedes' and to date Winona Ryder.

Hey Sweetie,
I was down south for a week and really missed you. On the day I returned home your post was
Youngster update. Thank you! What a treat for me.
It was exactly what I wanted to see.
This comment is really to just say hello and that I like your friend. I enjoyed his post also.
Love you all,
Debbie

Wow! You mean you actually got a store clerk that knew enough English to be able to say "no problem"!?!?! That's awesome!!!!

Don't get me going again...

Is this really the most important thing on your minds here (imperial you)? The level of service around you? Making clerks be polite?

The only reason I ask is I can't really remember when was the last time that bothered me so much. To be honest, it seems to me perhaps there may be some self esteem issues here. So a cashier doesn't say "you're welcome" or doesn't smile or give you your receipt. Big deal.

Jack, break's over. Put your leather jacket back over your Homer smock and work register 6.

What's interesing to me is how I can be equally affected by the overzealous and chatty clerks who wait on me within the $ervice industry. Often it depends on my frame of mind as to how I perceive that I am being treated during the exchange of goods and services. If my level of expectation were consistant, then I would not hesitate to make the case as you have stated it. However, it is not, and the desire to impose correction in the form of a personally targeted follow up question speaks more loudly of disgruntled customer than the taming of a disaffected, rude clerk...Hang in there Steve, one day we shall all be perfected in ways unimaginable. Some will like it some won't !

I think I heard this on Andy Rooney's segment last weekend. BTW, how did you get two last names?

"If my level of expectation were consistant, then I would not hesitate to make the case as you have stated it."

Now I'm onto you. You're all morons here.

Aaaaargh, I catch myself saying the dreaded NP sometimes. It's shorthand for saying "you're welcome, and it was no problem for me to help you", but it's lazy English. I'm a perpetrator, but I still concur with you!

P.S. Something that's become a family joke and catch-phrase is my mother-in-law's unintentional spoonerism, "pro noblum!". Perhaps that would be better for me to utter in error when a simple "thank you" eludes me.

I really enjoy your blog, by the way. I found it by way of Fayth's page.

The great Renaissance scholar, Erasmus of Rotterdam, in Die Civilitate, written close to five hundred years ago to teach manners to that most savage of creatures, the teenaged boy, put it this way: "It is part of the highest civility if, while never erring yourself, you ignore the errors of others."

The bottom line: the only way to help rebuild a civilized society is to consistently act civilized ourselves. As emotionally satisfying as a snappy come-back? Maybe not at the moment, but in the long term, yes.

Keep up the great blogging, Tony. You have at least one fan in France.

Then again, a few headlines along the lines of "Rude store clerk dragged outside and beaten by irate customer" might snap a few of the idiots awake. Oh hang on, that's making the assumption that they can read...

And while we're at it, the pillory was a effective means of controlling public behaviour in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Interesting. I tend to say, "no problem!" in a way that means, "I was happy to do it!" or "It was my pleasure to help!" I guess I could say those things instead. At any rate, you probably shouldn't go where they speak Spanish - "You're welcome" in Spanish is "de nada", nada meaning "nothing" and translating somewhat literally as "It was nothing" or - in US colloqialism - "No problem". "You're welcome" is more polite, I agree. But I don't see "no problem" as condescending in and of itself. Tone would matter there.

As for a snappy comeback, I guess I'd try, "But I meant to be a problem! I'll just have to come back again and be more annoying. Have a great day!"

Not very snappy, but then :) I'm A Ray Of Sunshine (tm) myself.

First of all, I don't read your blog just because you write it. I read it because you write it well. I have been guilty of saying np myself. And then I feel guilty. Thanks to this post, I don't think I will ever say it again. Really. Promise. Keep up the good work. Also, thank Steve for me.

I've tried and failed to stop using this phrase. Considering some of the more pungent expressions that have become part of the vulgar tongue, this one is probably not among the most offensive.

Besides, if one were to say "Oh, it was really no trouble at all" instead of "You're welcome," would that be considered rude? "No problem" is really a shortened version of that.

Talk about being oversensitive! So what would you do if he answered with "mmm hmm"? Or "you bet"? Maybe slap him?

"You're Welcome" is my grandfather's way of saying "no problem". "No problem" is how the majority of Americans under the age of 45 reply to "Thank you" in this century.

When I was in high school and bagging groceries in Rochester, Minnesota, I usually responded "You bet" when people thanked me. That is a reflexive Minnesota locution, but it makes no literal sense. I try to say "you're welcome" now.

I don't think hearing "no problem" instead of "you're welcome" bothers me, but that talking on the phone during the transaction annoys the hell out of me. I think that's inexcusable.

Sometime during the past year or two waiters and waitresses began calling male and female customers alike "guys," as in "You guys just call me if you need anything," or "Is everything okay with you guys?"

I love it when they ask me "You wanna box for that?" Why? Because I can answer them with "No, but I'll arm wrestle you for it."

Regards,
Paul Woodford
Tucson AZ

try "de rien" which in French (although I am unsure of the spelling) means it was nothing but serves for Thank You among other things.

This way you say the same thing but seem classy because of the French . . .

"de rien" is about the equivalent of saying "yup!" or "no prob" and is borderline slang. If you want to be nice say "je vous en prie".