ah, ok. That “taking a knee” business?
Look, are we going to have to retrain the Terminator or not? I mean, he needs to fit in.
Yeah. IMO, that was an employer requiring speech OBO his employees. My wife and I have discussed the extent to which an employer might reasonably require speech (symbolic or otherwise) by their employees.
Also find it relevant that, up until recently, the playing of the national anthem was a sponsored event generating income for the team owners.
No it does not.
You can say that for yourself, but you can’t speak for everyone what implications they hear in speech. It’s certainly a possible implication and it’s a reasonable one, given the context of the situation—if Person A never asked whether it would be a problem, why would Person B bring it up?
Having been in various forms of customer service for decades, I am actually quite a proponent of avoiding negative language.
“We can have that for you tomorrow” is better than “It’s not in stock.”
“Please use the path on the right” is better than “You can’t go that way!”
It can be subtle, but I really do think interactions like these help sway customers toward an overall positive reaction to their experience.
However, if somebody tells you that “no problem” is an example of negative language, it only shows that they don’t understand the concept. It’s a long-accepted synonym for “you’re welcome,” and in fact conveys a positive message. I have no problem with “no problem.”
This is where overthinking simple things gets you.
Yes, that’s a whole other question.
I just remembered an incident from years ago. I was at the checkout in the supermarket. The assistant mumbled something that I didn’t catch and I said “pardon? what did you say?” and she responded, loudly “I SAID “have a nice day”, are you deaf or something?” No, I’m not joking. I think this was in the “early days” of us adopting those americanisms, I don’t think she wanted to do it… 
Tone can have a lot to do with how things are taken. You can say something like “have a nice day” and make it sound like “I hope you die a horrible death and disappear from this planet”.
Thinking about this more, I go by tone and attitude. Somebody could say “you are a pain in the neck, you miserable old bat, and I hate my job” but if they do it in a nice tone and with a smile and eye contact, I’d be ok with that. I’m like my dog. I can be berating her but at long as I keep my tone upbeat, she is happy that she’s being praised. “It’s not what you say, but how you say it”.
I wonder whether some of the people who have gone ballistic about this phrase were really reacting to tone, and not the words?
If Person A considers their request to be part of Person B’s job description, why are they thanking them for performing it rather than simply accepting it as their due?
Maybe they’re not thanking them.
And even if they are, the implications are opposite. If you say thank you when it’s unnecessary, it’s doing something nice. Whereas, it’s not nice to imply that your request was potentially a problem.
But that’s irrelevant anyway. You can have a valid perception of the implications of “no problem” without having the same perception of the meaning of “thank you.”
This kind of quibbling is irrelevant to language. Language isn’t logically parallel in a way that requires “no problem” to have the same kind of implication as “thank you.”
The fact is that there is no correct answer here as to what “no problem” should mean. Some people don’t like it, and that’s something that a business can reasonably take into account when training employees.
Huh? If they’re not thanking them, why would the other person be saying ‘no problem’? We’re only talking about situations where people are saying thanks.
My point is, if Dinsdale or whomever feels it’s appropriate to pretend that his request was an imposition by thanking the clerk even though he doesn’t actually think it was one, then he shouldn’t be irritated if the clerk pretends in return that it was something they did to be kind rather than as a requirement of their job.
Thanking someone isn’t suggesting that the request was an imposition, it’s appreciation for the work they are doing. If I did suggest it was an imposition, perhaps by saying “sorry to bother you” or “excuse me”, then a “no problem” is completely appropriate.
HELL NO do not agree.
Asking a FAVOR is by definition requiring someone to do something for you, that goes outside the span of normal expected behavior.
And that, obviously, is “a problem”.
A problem that you might be quite willing to assist with, even a problem that any decent person would help with. But is is still a request for assistance beyond the scope of normal interaction, otherwise calling it a “favor” is mislabeling it.
So would you please ask your instructor to do me a favor, and piss off?
I don’t actually acknowledge that. I acknowledge that there is a small subset of people (who I’ve only encountered on the Dope) who find it slightly irritating. Nothing to the level of other words. You even admit it’s not something worth fighting for.
The words that we don’t say are words that were oppressive. So, unless you can say “no problem” was used to discriminate against old people, it’s hard to find anyone who cares.
Note this doesn’t actually apply to “black” and “gay,” which are perfectly acceptable words. And only some indigenous peoples find “Indian” offensive. And it applies to “niggardly” only because its legitimate use is dwarfed by people who resurrected a old-fashioned word so they could get away with almost saying the n-word.
But I assume you just were having trouble thinking of examples, since you don’t tend to use them.
But there’s nothing to appreciate if the work was not something that went beyond what you would normally do–in other words, an imposition.
I was taught by a Japanese woman in Sasebo to respond with ‘do itashimashite’ was the response. I’ll go with that, especially since I am not sure of the pronunciation of ‘iie iie’.
Maybe one is more formal or gendered?
That’s a disappointing way to think about people who work.
That’s different from how I view commonplace pleasantries. I routinely thank people for doing things that seem quite minor and readily accomplished. I say please, thank you, excuse me, and you’re welcome a lot, and I call most people Sir, Maam, or Miss. Maybe I’m old fashioned or overly formal. I also cuss like a sailor FWIW.
Re: other words - I was not attempting to suggest “no problem” is the same as the examples I gave. Nor did I take time to try to identify more appropriate examples. Instead, what I was suggesting as at least somewhat relevant is that many people seem to act as tho speech should conform to the expectations/feelings of the listener. Within that context/trend, it seems entirely reasonable to me that business speech avoid negative reactions - even if those negative reactions are infrequent, minimal, and even unreasonable.
I admit I’m a bit of a language/grammar snob, and I notice when language is used sloppily or (IMO) inappropriately. Yes, I acknowledge language is living and everchanging.
It seems some of us are commenting on when someone responds to “thank you” with “no problem” and some are replying to the question asked in the OP. But that’s no problem; we can talk about both 
Regarding the former, I don’t get in a huff or anything but it gives me a vague sense of “that person doesn’t know any better”. As far as someone saying “no problem” when I ask for a favor, I think it’s a very kind gesture. They’re allaying my feeling of being an imposition.
Or maybe I still don’t know what we’re talking about 
I have no problem with no problem.