That’s exactly my–and others, seemingly–problem with it. You work at McDonald’s. You serve me a Big Mac. I say “Thank you” to be polite, just as I would when someone hands me anything. I don’t need to be “freed from guilt” by your saying it wasn’t a problem; it better not have been a problem. It’s your job.
We’ve talked within our family, that we consider “thank you” is more polite in most instances than “no problem”.
And we do pretty well at it.
So 5 of us are fighting the good fight.
But the opposition is legion…
What Napier said.
I have noticed this also. The thing that I don’t like about it is that it seems to have driven “you’re welcome” to near extinction. Nowadays I tend to say “You’re welcome”, and to say “very well, thank you” to the ‘howarya’ question.
Usually this comes up when someone holds the reins of the hoss, whilst I climb down from the buggy on the way to the dry goods store for some sarsparilla or sheep tonic.
I’m an uptight boob, as well as an uppity bitch, and I’m good with that!
It’s fine as a response to a request, but as the response to “Thank you,” it drives me up the freakin’ wall, or when a cashier or waiter/ress acknowledges hearing the words “I’ll have the cheeseburger, please” by saying “Not a problem” I have to remind myself that choking food service personnel results in continued hunger and a criminal record. Ranks right up there with calling me “girl” to instantly reduce the tip to 15%, and mention to everyone I know that the service at that establishment is “spotty.”
Huh? But there’s never a situation where “no problem” and “thank you” are interchangeable.
I use it all the time. It’s less the words themselves and more the inflection, I think. When I’ve worked service, where some people think “You’re welcome” is proper, I’ve said “Not a problem” or “Not a problem at all” in my warmest, most friendly voice. It comes across more, I like to think, as “It’s not a problem, because I was very happy to serve you today. You wonderful, fantastic person you.” I often got praised for my personality in customer interactions, so as far as I know it worked.
“No problem” is just the informal version of “you’re welcome”. Count me in as one who thinks that if someone has a problem with “no problem” they’re strung a little too tightly.
I’m with the uptight boobs here.
When you say “no problem” in response to my “thank you,” you imply that I do think there’s a problem. E.g.:
What concerns me is that “no problem” has become the accepted ritualistic response to “thank you” in the past 10 years or so, and “you’re welcome” has become almost exclusively ironic. That is, one only says “you’re welcome” when the other guy is being an ass, and he actually is NOT “welcome”.
So, stuck between a rock and a hard place, I always reply to “thank you” with as earnest and sincere a “you’re welcome” as I can muster. Occasionally I’ll employ other idioms like “sure thing” or especially “my pleasure.” I like “my pleasure” because it doesn’t imply anything about the other guy, it’s friendly, and it gets the job done.
“Anytime!”
“No…Thank you.”
No worries.
Fast Food Drone in here, chiming in.
So what you’re basically saying then, is that “No Problem” is a more factually correct response. “Your Welcome” is more likely just to be a bullshit nicety. You prefer the bullshit nicety over the more accurate (IMHO) nicety. Fine. That’s simply your preference. Doesn’t make me rude for choosing one or the other.
That’s why it’s best to go with the classic response to a thank you:
Bitchin’, followed by a cheesy grin and a raised eyebrow.
Problem Solved.
I quickly scanned the thread, and I’m not sure if this possible reason has been suggested already.
Saying “no problem” has a negative implication, simply because the word “problem” has been said. It can leave a subliminal message in the listener’s mind because the word “problem” is what will be remembered.
I learned this in some sort of team-building communication type seminar. It makes sense to me but I’m not sure if I’m explaining it very well at this moment.
I personally don’t mind if people say it, but ever since that seminar it’s something I’ve tried to keep in mind as a potential turn-off.
I agree. I don’t see why some people get so hot under the collar about things like this. I feel similarly about other “substitute” expressions of acknowledgment, like store clerks who say “You’re welcome”, as somebody complained about here a few years ago.
I love it, plus “no problemo”. 
Sorry. 
I think it might have started here in Hawaii. It is a direct translation of the Hawaiian languange answer to: “Mahalo” (Thank You).
“A’ole pilikia (ah-O-lay pee-lee-KEE-ah). No problem.”
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Having grown up here, I think “no trouble” would be a better translation than “no problem”.
I have found that many folks know ‘Mahalo’ but I often have to explain what I just said if I respond ‘A’ole pilikia’.
I learned it from a Hawaiian language teacher whom I met casually in the course of my work. She said ‘Mahalo’ as she was walking away from me. I called after her: “so how do I say " you’re welcome ?” (because I am cursed with the urge to learn all languages that I come in contact with). She turned her head and said over her shoulder ‘A’ole pilikia’. I already knew both words but didn’t know what they would mean together except ‘no trouble’.
Exactly. The corresponding expressions in other languages, too, have a variety of literal translations which are, usually, not remotely similar to “You’re welcome.” German has Bitte shoen or Bitte sehr (“Please pretty” or “Please very”). Spanish has De nada ([“It’s] of nothing”).
It’s just a polite interpersonal acknowledgment, and it’s not supposed to mean something literally.
So we have Spanish and Hawai’ian with similar phrases to “No problem.” Out of curiosity, I looked at Japanese. The standard response to a thank you is dou itashimashite. My dictionary lists not only “You’re welcome” as a translation, but also “Don’t mention it” and “Not at all,” which are closer to “No problem” in semantics than “You’re welcome.” My conjugation is rusty, but if I’m reading it right, the literal translation of itashimashite is something like “It was nothing.” “You’re welcome” is frankly the odd dog out here.
On the whole, though, I’d have to go with what Spectre just said. “No problem” just happens to be the current stock meaningless phrase used to acknowledge a similarly meaningless phrase indicating thanks. Applying too much literalness to social idioms tends to make one’s head hurt.
No offence intended but I find this to be utter bullshit, though I once dated a girl who worked in customer service who said that she had been told that, for this very reason, she was not to say “no problem” to customers. I couldn’t believe it when I first heard this.