Saturday, August 25, 2012

Whatever happened to you are welcome?

Funny times we live in.

One of the most beautiful expressions in the English language is replying "you are welcome", when somebody thanks you. You can embellish if a bit using "quite", "very", "very much", between "are" and "welcome". It shows appreciation, deference, respect to your fellow being, even love for humanity. All positive things, things that could make society better, if practiced on a daily basis.

Yet, I noticed that the respectful, loving, appreciative "you are welcome" is now being replaced by a nasty "no problem", and variations thereof, such as "sure, no problem", etc..

It seems that the generation of LOL, omg, lmao, believes that "you are welcome" is a cheesy, old style, unassertive response to thanks, and has replaced it with the now ominous "no problem". This "no problem" seems to me a tad passive aggressive, and even worse, it gives the person who utters it an air of superiority. In other word, the very reverse of "you are welcome". It seems to be short for "no problem this time, but don't try me".

If "no problem" were used with a smiling face, that showed some physical semblance of appreciation where words fell short, ok.  However, people who use this expression have an air of arrogance that would make Madonna and Lindsey Lohan blush.

I wonder if they are being taught this is good customer service?

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