# No Problem
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 17, 2007, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604 "2007-02-17T12:37:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/1 "2007-02-17T12:37:29Z")
Mild rant, but I woke up still annoyed about it, so there ya go.
I’ve noticed a couple things about retail workers that seem to indicate a trend rather than isolated incidents.
1. They don’t thank me for my business.
2. When I thank them for my change or for handing me my bag o’ stuff, they say “no problem.”
No problem? **NO PROBLEM???** Dude, I know it’s “no problem.” It better not be a fucking problem! It’s your job, you ill-bred, socially inept little dweeb. When I approach the point of purchase, a “hello” would be nice. Try to feign a little enthusiasm, m’kay? I realize yours is a dank existence, but I AM a paying customer and my purchase DOES provide a portion of your income. And if I thank you for your blank stare or your heart-felt grunt, the correct response is “You’re welcome!”
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### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/2 "2007-02-17T12:39:51Z")
We say “no worries”, here. Man, that’d _really_ get you steamed!
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### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/3 "2007-02-17T12:50:14Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
Mild rant, but I woke up still annoyed about it, so there ya go.
I’ve noticed a couple things about retail workers that seem to indicate a trend rather than isolated incidents.
1. They don’t thank me for my business.
[/quote]
Why should they? Perhaps you’d like some red carpet to be rolled out and some eunuchs with palm-frond fans to cool you while you shop? Or maybe you’d prefer the London Symphony Orchestra to personally accompany you as you go about your daily business, seeing as you’re so important?
> [@](#):
>
> 1. When I thank them for my change or for handing me my bag o’ stuff, they say “no problem.”
>
> No problem? **NO PROBLEM???** Dude, I know it’s “no problem.” It better not be a fucking problem! It’s your job, you ill-bred, socially inept little dweeb. When I approach the point of purchase, a “hello” would be nice. Try to feign a little enthusiasm, m’kay? I realize yours is a dank existence, but I AM a paying customer and my purchase DOES provide a portion of your income. And if I thank you for your blank stare or your heart-felt grunt, the correct response is “You’re welcome!”
As **Ice Wolf** says, “No Worries” is a very common and quite acceptable turn of phrase in this part of the world. True, “You’re Welcome” is a bit more formal and to be preferred over, say “Smell ya later”, but I just can’t see how anyone could object to “No problem”.
Your results may vary, of course.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/4 "2007-02-17T14:25:58Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
Perhaps you’d like some red carpet to be rolled out and some eunuchs with palm-frond fans to cool you while you shop? Or maybe you’d prefer the London Symphony Orchestra to personally accompany you as you go about your daily business, seeing as you’re so important?
[/QUOTE]
Jesus. Overreact much? He wasn’t asking for anything like that. Just a bit of air which, being exhaled anyway, might as well roll over the vocal chords for a two-syllable increment of time. Just something to achknowledge that you have contributed to their income. Nevermind all the exaggerations, is what he actually asked for unreasonable? (The answer is no: it isn’t.)
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### Author:  [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/5 "2007-02-17T14:44:50Z")
I agree with the OP. I don’t like working retail - so I don’t work retail. If you hate your job so much you can’t be marginally polite to the customers who enable you to have that job - get another one!
I make it a point not to give my business to places who have rude employees. That isn’t much of a problem around here, except at fast-food places. I avoid the rude ones, usually after telling a manager (who usually doesn’t give a shit) the reason why I will not be back.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/6 "2007-02-17T14:46:01Z")
[QUOTE=SnakesCatLady]
I agree with the OP. I don’t like working retail - so I don’t work retail. If you hate your job so much you can’t be marginally polite to the customers who enable you to have that job - get another one!
I make it a point not to give my business to places who have rude employees. That isn’t much of a problem around here, except at fast-food places. I avoid the rude ones, usually after telling a manager (who usually doesn’t give a shit) the reason why I will not be back.
[/QUOTE]
Since when is a cheerful, friendly, “No problem!” being _rude_?
:rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/7 "2007-02-17T14:54:26Z")
Those are your problems when shopping? Man. Sometimes I really miss American customer service.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/8 "2007-02-17T15:03:49Z")
[QUOTE=SnakesCatLady]
I agree with the OP. I don’t like working retail - so I don’t work retail. If you hate your job so much you can’t be marginally polite to the customers who enable you to have that job - get another one!
[/QUOTE]
You say this as if it’s possible for people working retail jobs to just run out and get another one that isn’t service-oriented. Oooh, maybe the clerk could quit and become a maid.
It’s a little hard to be enthusiastic about your work when you make $6 an hour, and then get to deal with entitled bitches sniffing at you for not responding in the appropriate manner. Or, if you wait tables, making $2.50 per hour, and hoping that your tips get you minimum wage.
There’s a reason minimum-wage jobs have such a high turnover rate, and the “guests” play a large role in it.
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### Author:  [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/9 "2007-02-17T15:15:28Z")
We in America like to buy stuff for cheap, but we don’t like to admit the implications of buying stuff cheap – namely, that it’s made for us in China by people who are working almost for free, and sold to us by retail drones who just aren’t paid enough to give a damn. If these things bother us, we simply have to resign ourselves to paying more as a rule.
And for what it’s worth, the objection to “no problem” isn’t that the employee didn’t acknowledge the transaction. It’s an issue of phraseology. But it seems to me that in these modern times, “No problem” has become the de facto substitute for “you’re welcome.”
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/10 "2007-02-17T15:18:38Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Purl McKnittington]
It’s a little hard to be enthusiastic about your work when you make $6 an hour, and then get to deal with entitled bitches sniffing at you for not responding in the appropriate manner. Or, if you wait tables, making $2.50 per hour, and hoping that your tips get you minimum wage.
[/QUOTE]
That is not my problem. I’m spending my money in your business, helping to enable your boss to stay open, and you to keep your job. Expecting a “thank you” for that is not feeling entitled. I use “please” and “thank you” and I expect the same in return. If you expect me to continue spending money in your business, keep your pissy attitude to your off-work hours.
Now, the “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome”? I got no problem with that.
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### Author:  [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/11 "2007-02-17T15:24:14Z")
[QUOTE=SnakesCatLady]
I agree with the OP. I don’t like working retail - so I don’t work retail. If you hate your job so much you can’t be marginally polite to the customers who enable you to have that job - get another one!
[/QUOTE]
What do you mean they have no bread? Why don’t they eat the cake?
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/12 "2007-02-17T15:26:23Z")
[QUOTE=Frank]
Now, the “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome”? I got no problem with that.
[/QUOTE]
Me neither. That’s just different words to mean the same thing.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/13 "2007-02-17T15:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=Frank]
That is not my problem. I’m spending my money in your business, helping to enable your boss to stay open, and you to keep your job. Expecting a “thank you” for that is not feeling entitled. I use “please” and “thank you” and I expect the same in return. If you expect me to continue spending money in your business, keep your pissy attitude to your off-work hours.
Now, the “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome”? I got no problem with that.
[/QUOTE]
I agree with everything you say here. I always say thanks when I’m done with a transaction, and I kind of like it when someone thanks me in return for my thanking them, if they haven’t already.
Me: “Thank you!”
Clerk" "No problem/You’re welcome…thank _you_!
If they have already thanked me, I do this in reverse.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/14 "2007-02-17T15:31:01Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
No problem? **NO PROBLEM???** Dude, I know it’s “no problem.” It better not be a fucking problem! It’s your job, you ill-bred, socially inept little dweeb. When I approach the point of purchase, a “hello” would be nice. Try to feign a little enthusiasm, m’kay? I realize yours is a dank existence, but I AM a paying customer and my purchase DOES provide a portion of your income. And if I thank you for your blank stare or your heart-felt grunt, the correct response is “You’re welcome!”
[/QUOTE]
I’m afraid you are in for a very long last few decades of your life. “No problem” means “you’re welcome” and has for many years. I have not tracked down its origin, yet, but it is very much in keeping with the Spanish expression _de nada_, (literally “of nothing”), or the expression in English, “Don’t mention it.”
The point of the expression is that the speaker is demurring your need to give thanks for their services. They perform a service, (bringing food to the table or handing it acrtoss the counter or completing a financial transaction to permit you to leave their establishment with merchandise), and you feel compelled to thank them for that service to which they reply that their effort has been minimal and that you do not bear the social burden of offering thanks for their small effort.
I understand that it can be jarring when first heard, (although I am a bit surprised that it is just coming to your attention in 2007), but it has a pefectly logical basis (a rare enough event in language, anyway) and it is not intended to denigrate you.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/15 "2007-02-17T15:52:42Z")
[QUOTE=Frank]
That is not my problem. I’m spending my money in your business, helping to enable your boss to stay open, and you to keep your job. Expecting a “thank you” for that is not feeling entitled. I use “please” and “thank you” and I expect the same in return. If you expect me to continue spending money in your business, keep your pissy attitude to your off-work hours.
Now, the “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome”? I got no problem with that.
[/QUOTE]
Oh, I’m not saying that I don’t expect the clerks to respond to a thank you, but that the “no problem” is totally appropriate, and you can’t really expect somebody who has to work two hours to earn enough to see a movie to tailor their responses to your preferences. There’s absolutely no difference in meaning between “thank you” and “no problem,” and if the use of the latter is enough to make you feel the clerk is “ill-bred [and] socially inept,” then, yeah, I feel there’s some entitlement or arrogance there.
Sorry, **Kalhoun** , but you’re way off base in your anger here.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/16 "2007-02-17T15:52:51Z")
I look at “no problem” as a response to a request. “Sir, can you please get that item off the top shelf for me?” “Sure…no problem.” It just doesn’t seem right as a response to a thank you.
Okay, so maybe I’m old-school on that. It still doesn’t excuse the poor shat-upon jerky-clerk who doesn’t thank me for my purchase.
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### Author:  [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/17 "2007-02-17T16:07:16Z")
As others have pointed out, the people you’re talking about aren’t paid enough to care. All you can reasonably expect from somebody being paid minimum wage is that they be civil. You may not like it, but if you want anything different you need to pay for it (by going to higher class restaurants and stores).
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/18 "2007-02-17T16:07:27Z")
[QUOTE=Frank]
That is not my problem. I’m spending my money in your business, helping to enable your boss to stay open, and you to keep your job. Expecting a “thank you” for that is not feeling entitled. I use “please” and “thank you” and I expect the same in return. If you expect me to continue spending money in your business, keep your pissy attitude to your off-work hours.
[/quote]
You seem to be under the impression that retail drones have any reason to care if you continue spending money there. You’re entitled to receive your merchandise in exchange for money. That’s it. You have no reasonable expectation to a “thank you.” That’s not part of the deal. Retail drones are little more than vending machines that take piss breaks. If you get your correct change, you should consider the transaction successful.
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/19 "2007-02-17T16:13:40Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
You seem to be under the impression that retail drones have any reason to care if you continue spending money there. You’re entitled to receive your merchandise in exchange for money. That’s it. You have no reasonable expectation to a “thank you.” That’s not part of the deal. Retail drones are little more than vending machines that take piss breaks. If you get your correct change, you should consider the transaction successful.
[/QUOTE]
I’m the sort of customer who makes this POV dangerous. Because when I stop patronizing a store, I tell the manager why. And when employees are rude to me, I tell the manager, sometimes in a letter, and I mention the employee by name.
My expectation is that you will conclude the transaction politely – not with your nose in my ass but, yes, ideally with a brief “thanks.” If you can’t do that, and if you have otherwise made my life unpleasant by being sullen, surly, or rude, there’s about a 50-50 percent chance I will make _your_ life unpleasant by having a word with your manager.
People who can’t master common civility shouldn’t work in with the pubic.
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### Author:  [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-problem/392604/20 "2007-02-17T16:17:10Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
I look at “no problem” as a response to a request. “Sir, can you please get that item off the top shelf for me?” “Sure…no problem.” It just doesn’t seem right as a response to a thank you.
Okay, so maybe I’m old-school on that. It still doesn’t excuse the poor shat-upon jerky-clerk who doesn’t thank me for my purchase.
[/QUOTE]
It’s funny how people differ, isn’t it? I usually feel a tad uncomfortable when the clerk/cashier thanks me at the end of a transaction. I mean, I appreciate them having a pleasant attitude, but I’m not shopping there to do anyone a favor/keep them in business. I’m buying what I need or want. I shop at particular stores for one or more of the following reasons:
1. They’ve got good prices
2. They’re conveniently located
3. They’ve got a nice ambience/cool stuff.
4. None of the above, but they are the only place that sells whatever the hell it is I’m looking for at that moment.
I see no need to be thanked for any of that.
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