I went off on a rant in a thread about this subject a while back. I’m not fond of this response, but it happens so often that I’ve gotten used to it and I’m no longer quite as annoyed as I was. I now concentrate on the intent rather than the phrase itself.
It seems your problem is when the MickeyD’s employee forgets to doff their cap.
When you say “Thanks” and I say “No problems” we are conducting a perfectly civil interaction. You are not being “freed from guilt” quite the reverse really…you are thanking me (as you should in a civil society, no matter if providing you with a service is my job or not), I am assuring you that your thanks are not obligitory but appreciated.
To me your attitude of saying ‘thank you’ is because you believe you are “well endowed with manners”…rather then saying thank you because you are appreciative of the service you have recieved.
Your basic issue is that if someone is paid to do something then they deserve no thanks, you are just magnaminous in giving it. You are damn lucky you get “no probs”…I’d be more likely to give you a frosty smile.
Your payment does not excuse you from a lack of manners no matter who you are paying; lawyer, hairdresser, waitress, plumber etc.
>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.
Wow, just what I was trying to say, except not verbose. Thanks!
So, this raises an interesting point about language. Words all have meanings, and phrases typically have meanings derived from their words. But phrases can come to be so frequently used that they start to have a meaning as a unit, rather than as a construction. Once this happens, that meaning can evolve over time, so it doesn’t match the meaning constructed from the words. So, many of the above posters take the meaning of the “no problem” phrase and the “you’re welcome” phrase to be the same, and at least one takes the “no problem” meaning to be the old “you’re welcome” meaning but the current “you’re welcome” meaning to be ironic and contradictory.
Now we get into the pathological behavior of language caused by phrase meaning coming to contradict the word content meaning, like “having a temper” today often meaning that one does NOT have that versatile strengthening against upset once known as a “temper”.
I use it; I think it’s fine. For me, the sentiment is more important than the actual words. I’m not much of a literalist, maybe there’s a correlation there.
Or perhaps we are looking at the English language just trading phrases from country to country. ‘No problems’ has been a common phrase in the Antipodes for ever! I’m old enough to remember ‘Cool’ and ‘Dude’ sneaking in from America.
These days New Zealand English is being eroded by American English. Lots of NZ children don’t know what a bach is, or what togs are, or what wagging is.
‘No problems’ just seems to be a phrase that has swum upstream. Just feel lucky that the answer to everything isn’t “sweet” yet.
“It has been my pleasure to serve you m’lud”
(tugs forelock, bows, picks insect from eyebrow hair, grins winsomely, picks my lord’s pocket in the guise of touching the hem of his garment)
Arise Ye, ‘Sir Attack From The 3RD Dimension’.
You are now officially full of shit. 
In this country (UK) there was a period a few years ago where white people would say “Hey, no problem, mon” in a fake Jamaican accent. That was annoying. Without the fake accent, its the same as “please” or “thank you,” just a little bit of politeness. With that fake accent it is at best an affectation and a cliché, at worst a stereotype.
Ah, well I am speaking about things that are not your job. If I’ve done a favour for someone or helped them out, and it wasn’t my job to do so, and they say ‘thanks, I apreciate it’ It is very natural and right-seeming to say ‘no problem’ or ‘it’s not a problem’ or ‘glad to help’
Languages change and evolve over time. I actually celebrate a teeny bit every time I hear, “No problem” instead of “You’re welcome”, because it means the English language is changing right in front of me, and I think it’s very exciting. Being a traditionalist myself, I deliberately stick to “You’re welcome”, but I enjoy hearing the younguns make a language evolve.
And, interestingly, when I ring someone up at the cash register, I say, “Thank you” as I hand over the bag, and then the customer says “Thank you” back to me as he takes his bag. Nobody says “you’re welcome” in response to “thank you” at all. Weird, huh? If you think about it.
That’s because the customer is supposed to say thankyou. Because you are giving him/her his/her bag.
If a shop person were to hand me my shopping and say ‘thankyou’ that would throw me, and I’d be “Er… thanks”
Actually, I think it’s appropriate for a shop person/sales clerk/cashier to say thank you to the customer. What the sales clerk is doing is thanking the customer for shopping in their store, instead of in their competitior’s. Last time I worked in retail, I used to hand the customer their bag and say, “Thank you for shopping with us today.” or “Thank you for shopping at <store name>.” I worked for a national department store chain that was an anchor store in a mall. I’m not sure that we carried anything that was really unique to us, so the customer had a choice as to where to do their shopping. Saying “Thank you” to the customers let them know that we appreciated their business.
That makes sense. I understand that ‘thankyou’ is ‘thanks for shopping here’ but it still throws me when someone gives me something while saying ‘thankyou’ My lower-level brain functions see something back-to-front going on and I am momentarily thrown.
But isn’t it still valid for the customer to reply to the retailer’s ‘thanks’ with ‘thanks’?
As a shortening of the following exchange -
R: ‘thanks for shopping here’
C: ‘thanks for [handing me] my shopping’
I agree. As a replacement for “you’re welcome,” the phrase “no problem” strikes me as odd and somewhat annoying. I think because it blurs an important distinction.
I think the phrase “no problem” as best used in response to an apology:
“gee, I’m so sorry I forgot to return your book last week.”
“no problem. I didn’t need it after all.”
When used in response to “thank you,” the phrase “no problem” carries with it, IMHO anyway, the sense that the person saying “no problem” thinks that I was somehow apologizing for putting them to the trouble of bringing me a hamburger.
There’s nothing wrong with “no problem” as a signifier for “you’re welcome.” It carries no hidden message and the person saying isn’t even hearing the literal words. How many people really even think about the literal meaning of “you’re welcome,” for that matter?
I say that anyone who gets offended is thinking too much.
As to thanking cashiers, I’m a compulsive thanker with service people so I do it all the time – sometimes several times in the course of a single transaction. It’s never occurred to me to say “you’re welcome” to somebody thanking me for buying groceries. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone else say it either. I think that would seem weirdly haughty in that context.
It would make sense that “no problem” is a common phrase in many languages. The meaning behind it is different from “You’re welcome” in that it negates the implication of a transaction of favor. If, socially, we have a natural drive to make networks of favors, then “no problem” is our way of saying that even though we’ve done something for you, it wasn’t troublesome at all and doesn’t count towards our balance of social obligation.
In other words, don’t even think about what I just did for you. Socially, it is of zero significance. Don’t feel like you need to do anything for me.
Of course, it’s a little more complex than this. Really, a lot of people probably do say this with the intention of merely sounding like they considered the favor/service to be nothing. This makes them seem magnanimous.
I can’t speak for anyone else but I never said I was offended by the use of the phrase. I said I find it annoying for the reasons I stated above.
The issue is not the literal meaning of the words, either. The issue, for me anyway, as I said above is that it blurs a distinction between two different situations: (1) where I am apologizing to someone and (2) where I am thanking someone.
If when you say that the statement “carries no hidden message” you mean that the person saying “no problem” means no offense by it, well yes, we all understand that but that is not the point.
If, on the other hand, you mean, “just take it at face value and don’t analyze it” then this strikes me as disingenuous. Every statement people make carries connotations and “hidden meanings.” The point of this discussion is to get at exactly what those are.
Australian’s say “no worries” a lot, which I think is brilliant. 
Seriously, I’ve added “no worries” to the “no problem” and other responses.
Being an Aussie, I usually say “No worries” or “No Problem” or “No wuckers” or “You’re welcome” depending on the situation. I like No Problem or No Worries because it’s a lovely informal familiar response. I work in a very corporate sector, and I still feel that “You’re welcome” can sometimes come across as a little too remote. But that just might be me…
“Sorry.” “No problem.”
“Thank you.” “No problem.”
“What is your flight?” “430.”
“What time is your flight?” “4:30.”
I think most people are equally capable of figuring out the distinction within those two pairs.