I’m not implying that at all. If they get that impression, they are mistakenly inferring it. When I say no problem it means that I’ll be happy to do that and there will be no foreseeable negative impact by accomplishing the task they have asked to be performed. By saying no problem I have, in fact, explicitly told them that they aren’t imposing upon me and that they need have no more concerns on the matter.
Why would anyone in their right mind think that a simple “no problem” carried so much negative connotation? I’m not sure I’d want to work for someone who thought “no problem” was a bad thing to say.
We used to have a plant manager who imposed a $1 fine on anyone using the terms “hope”, “think”, and another one I don’t recall (“feel” or “believe”, maybe). He claimed it was because he didn’t want someone to think or hope that what they were stating was a fact, he wanted them to know it was.
It was utter crap, widely mocked behind his back, and even the people trying to support him faltered in trying to explain it and had to admit the idea was problematic. I once told him he should put up an “abandon hope” sign above the entrance, and he thought that was a great idea.
He no longer works here for other reasons, but he’s a plant manager somewhere else now, and would probably agree with some of the garble in that article.
Before I got transferred to another department and shift, I came pretty close to saying, “take this job and shove it up your ass.” They probably frown on saying that at work, too.
We’ve had the occasional thread here about people who find “No problem” to be incredibly rude. Makes no sense to me; it smacks of people just looking for something to be upset about.
The logic is that saying “No problem” implies that there might have been a problem with your request. The thing is, if you’re going to be that literal about it, you can get the same implication out of any sort of response.
Me: Thank you.
You: You’re welcome.
Me: Jolly right I’m welcome! This is a place of business, isn’t it? You’re here to serve me, aren’t you? How dare you imply that I might not have been welcome?
Me: Thank you.
You: Don’t mention it.
Me: What do you mean, don’t mention it? I’ll mention whatever I feel like mentioning! What, are you too important to listen to my thanks? How dare you? I demand to see your manager!
On the topic of favors and gratitude, Machiavelli would opine that it’s wiser to cultivate their dependency on you rather than appear to be paying tribute to them. The best way to do this is to tie yourself, and the act you performed, to the power center. Insist that no thanks are necessary; imply that the greater good of the organization was the true beneficiary. This sends a little scare into them, that it’s obvious that they are always requiring outside assistance and are visibly only serving themselves.
If the act was actually the compliance of an order from a direct superior, phrased as a request and then thanked as one only out of politeness, “no problem” is not an inappropriate response, because any response is as empty as the thanks were.
I had a boss for a while who used to get his panties all in a twist if you were using the phrase “I think” or “probably” when discussing when he might expect his deliverables from me.
He did that one too many time and so I had to explain in very small words why it is that I was unable to give firm commitments with regard to when tasks would be completed. This is largely because every single task on my plate is subject to interruption of unknown duration by several of my other established duties. If he wants me to transcribe a 2 minute letter he has dictated, it will take perhaps 10 minutes start to finish - if and only if I am not interrupted in that time period by the telephone, him deciding he needs something else, an inquiry from the firm administrator about a billing or vendor issue, the need to stand up and go remind him that he has a hearing or meeting or telephone call in X minutes, and so on and so forth. Precious few tasks get accomplished by me at the office without some form of interruption. Since I have no reasonable method of predicting what the interruption will be or what its duration might end up being, the best you’re getting is a guesstimate - and guesstimates get prefaced with “I think” or “probably” because I am not stupid enough to tell you “10 minutes” knowing that a) I’m likely to be interrupted mid-task and b) you will have a much more legitimate beef (that you will jump on like a cat on tuna) if I give a firm estimate and miss it.
I once made some “motivational banners” for a country club that said such stuff like:
“Rather than ‘NO PROBLEM’, let’s say ‘Thank You’ or 'My Pleasure”
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their committment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor”
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do”
The first one marks the first time I found out some people consider “no problem”, well, a problem. The second two struck me as actually offensive. Might as well just come out and accuse your staff of slacking off.
Then there was:
“The difficult will be provided for immediately; the impossible may take a few moments longer”
Cute. Especially when you’re not the one doing the work but handing down the orders. Meanwhile, it isn’t PAY that makes a person’s life better, but slaving away at their job doing the impossible in a moment’s notice. Sure thing, Mr. Country Club Owner.
But what if what you ordered is on back order? That seems like a problem you might want to know about.
Why is it on back order, you might ask? More than likely because the idiot manager forgot to order it. I mean, it’s only a restaurant that specializes in burgers. Why would we also need to order fries?
Sorry, had to rant about my flashback to the time I was bartending at Max and Erma’s and we ran out of fucking fries. FRIES! There was MANY times I had to bring up that problem to customers that day. And sadly, that wasn’t the only day. On days we didn’t have problems, I sure as shit would say “No Problem” after the customer ordered…and mumbled “today…yet” under my breath…
I’ll disagree with the crowd slightly. “No problem” does carry the implication that under other circumstances, the request might have been an imposition. Any request is a potential imposition; I always have something else to do, so all outside requests have a negative impact on that. I say “no problem” if the request won’t take too much time. I say “no” if it will, or “sure, but it’ll delay X”.
Of course no one should get offended at such a response. My criteria for allocating my time don’t involve serving any particular individual.
