As someone with a high work ethic, this one sounds like it should be true. However, I found that after earning my project management certificate I became fully aware of just how screwed up the organization was because it didn’t believe (collectively) in best practices to any degree. I’ve been in that situation a few times since then at other companies. Educating myself in the proper ways to do things tends to just make me frustrated with those around me. Which is not a good quality of (work) life.
I don’t think it’s inherently a bad thing like they do. After all, sometimes it very well might have been a problem. I’ve had requests that were initially believed to be easy and turned out to be difficult once I got into it. Or maybe it’s a simple request but I’m swamped and getting it done means delaying something else. That said, I don’t read more into “no problem” than just as being equal to “you’re welcome” because it’s common vernacular.
That said, though I still use it sometimes, I prefer not to use it. The reason being that I think that there’s value in the “thank you/you’re welcome” exchange. It should be an expression of appreciation on the part of the receiver and grace on the part of the doer. Sure, plenty of times people say thanks without a thought, but when it’s done with intention, it’s great. Even if it’s someone’s job, that’s still their labor and particularly if it’s genuinely appreciated it helps encourage people to do those things with intention.
Even moreso, though, our society values charity a lot, which is great, but an unfortunate consequence of that is sometimes not actually allowing the receiver to truly express appreciation and feel that it was received, and that it was given willingly and not just out of obligation. After all, hopefully even if it’s your job, you’re not just doing the bare minimum to collect a pay check, since you’re spending your life doing it, you put some part of yourself in it and take pride in it.
And that’s why I have an issue with “no problem” in a more existential sense. You’re stating what it’s not, rather than what it is. I want to convey that I wasn’t just doing the bare minimum, but I put a small part of myself into it, for them, and I’m giving it to them in grace, and that their appreciation is heard and understood. Now, of course, “you’re welcome” doesn’t always feel right, perhaps too formal or whatever, but I still like positive affirmations like “absolutely”.
Now, I imagine that isn’t something that most people notice, but I’d hope that even that small amount of difference can make minute differences that add up over time. And I certainly hope that people that do know me well and are aware of how I think about these types of social customs and they appreciate them for what they are.
Very well said.
The whole thing about the implication that something might have been a problem or whatever has never occurred to me. I just think it sounds, not rude exactly, but kind of lazy/ unprofessional. If my coworker replies to my " thank you" with “no problem” I don’t think a thing of it (and I like “no worries”) but it really doesn’t go over that well when said in a service context. To me, your assuring me that you doing your job is not a problem is not the same as you telling me I’m welcomed to that service. Not a big whoop, but there is a difference, imo.
I think if the French and Spanish can survive it, we can too.
“No problem” sounds dismissive to me, although I realize that is not meant to be.
I usually say, “You are very welcome.”
The quality of MY life is in direct proportion to how much money my boss will pay me for working in my chosen field of endeavor.
I use both no problem and no worries.
If you’re offended might I interest you in an elective procedure to extract the foliage from your posterior.
You’re welcome.
I’m re-reading this thread and I still don’t think I understand the problem some people have to hearing “no problem”…
Hypothetical:
I’m at my desk doing whatever it is I do (probably reading the dope) and Jim walks up to me and asks me to do something…I dunno…go count all the monkey anuses left over from the picni we have in storage.
I think to myself what is required to do such a request…I have to stop what I’m doing, get up, go to storage, count monkey anuses…ok all of that I can do, so I say “No Problem”
But what if I don’t have access to storage? Then i would say “I can’t do what you requested because of the problem with my monkey anus storage access, once we fix that, then no problem.”
How does this usage of “No Problem” cause people to feel insulted or brushed off? When people tell me “no problem” I always kind of assume they are going through the same mental steps I do when I say it. Are people NOT doing this?
Also, why is this issue bothering me so much?
Why does “No problem” annoy me? 
I just live with it.
Now, calling me “Mister First Name”, I want to kill people. :dubious:
In your example, it sounds like the “no problem” is being offered in response to the initial request. You’re telling coworker Jim that you have no issue attending to his anal request. What people are talking about here is “no problem” being used in place of “you’re welcome”. I don’t think anyone has a huge problem with it. We all know what the speaker means (virtually nothing, actually), but for some of us it does not carry the same implications because it really doesn’t have the same meaning.
When it’s phatic communication, I’m not sure that’s really relevant. And it’s not like “you’re welcome” doesn’t have the same issue. It’s just that no one bothers to break it apart and get cranky about it.
It was a relatively huge problem with my dad. I never understood it.
As public speaker I can affirm that if you say -I think- people will assume you are really unsure and don’t care much.
Wait, when did y’all start saying “of nothing”?
And I can assure you as a public listener that people who don’t use “I think” when appropriate come off as know-it-alls that no one wants to talk to.
And, yes, that was an intentional example.
Your affirmation here (as a public writer) makes me assume you’re more interested in sounding authoritative, than in providing reliable information.
I’ve had composition teachers who railed against “I think,” and I can understand their point for a persuasive essay or persuasive speech. One of those teachers also condemned its use in informal writing and speech, because obviously you’re saying things because you “think” them. That’s shoddy thinking. IMO.
There was a poster on a sports forum – a forum I followed for 15 years – who did not used “IMO” or “I think” or “it seems to me.” He was a very smart guy, but attracted controversy far beyond what his opinions warranted. However, in the past two or three years he’s abandoned his principles and occasionally throws in an “I think.” He sounds a lot more like a real person now.
Or the Spanish “de nada”.
Thing is, each language has its own idioms. If you say “vous êtes bienvenu” or “es usted bienvenido” in answer to merci or gracias, it wouldn’t be correct in either French or Spanish. The two sentences are valid in those languages but in a completely different context.
“Other languages are different” is a true sentence but not a reason for anything other than being careful in how you use each of them.
I mostly agree with you on this one; but I guess what they mean in this context is, “don’t ever sound unsure of yourself at the office.” It’s one of more horrible features of the full-blown corporate environment, something I didn’t experience myself until I was fifteen years into my career. Up until then, I had worked only at fairly small companies that tended ot have a collegial vibe. You could go to anyone and make a suggestion or ask a question, and it was encouraged. But at the Fortune 100 company, that was no longer true. Possibly the author’s idea here is that it would be better to say “Why don’t we do this…?.” or “Why wouldn’t this work…?”; as it is better to question why something can’t be done than it is to assume it can’t be done.
As for #3, I have a problem with the people who have a problem with “No problem”. A lot of people seem to complain about this one, and they almost always seem to be anywhere from a decade younger than me or older, and I take that with some disillusionment. Those of us who came of age in the 1970s still believed that we would not turn into our fussy elders, if for no other reason than not to have our juniors feel obligated to address differently just because we’re older. But it seems clear that many of my contemporaries are happy to adopt those old fashioned ways.
Aside from that, it makes no sense on a rational level. I’m at least slightly familiar with a handful of other European languages, and in none of them does the equivalent expression for “You’re welcome” actually mean that literally. The whole “Thank you–you’re welcome” dialog is merely an exchange of courtesies; a mutual acknowledgment as it were. So if someone says to me “no problem” or “it’s no bother”, I’m good, because it’s likely I just said something other than “thank you”, but similar in spirit.