"No problem" vs "you're welcome"

[rav3n]

lol, I was going to mention 'my pleasure' for the purposes of complimenting them while at the same time, ensuring that they're aware there are no strings.

 

[kyuuei]

I really don't think it's as in depth as the OP's pic explanation. I think "no problem" is more casual sounding, and tends to encourage others to ask again, and thus friendlier sounding, to people nowadays. You're welcome is more polite, so people tend to use it in more polite ways lately. You're welcome also can have a standing of being used negatively, and can sometimes sound more final to people than a more open ended "anytime".

"My pleasure" "Anytime" "No problem(and it's variants)" They all mean you're welcome, synonyms for the same thing. If you were going to teach this to an ESL person, this is how most people would explain it.

I don't think it stems from some unspoken ritual that all millennials have a consciousness of a concept that help is expected... People of all ages have had various degrees of helping others across generations. My mom, not near a millennial, is far kinder and expects help to be a social norm far more than I ever did. Sometimes, helping someone else is absolutely a gift and it was difficult work. Sometimes, it is really really simple for you but immensely helpful for them. Sometimes it is out of social expectation, sometimes selfishness (let me help you because you're in my way), sometimes it's out of true kindness. There's too many variables for this lame pulled-out-of-someone's-ass explanation.

They're synonyms. That's all.

 

[thepink-cloakedninja]

I just say "thank YOU," "yeah," or "of course!" I feel awkward saying you're welcome in a customer-service setting because technically the customer is the one doing me the favor. Same goes for no problem.

Thanks for spending $5 on coffee everyday plus putting yourself at risk for diabetes and heart disease so I can have a job ...

 

[Tellenbach]

If it's family or friend: "you're welcome";
If it's co-worker or acquaintance: "sure";
If it's a stranger: "mmmm hmmmm".

 

[Yama]

Just sounds like Tom's making a fuss over something that ultimately doesn't matter at all. Like, who cares?

 

[Frosty]

I usually just grunt tbh. Or say a 'yup'. So 'no problem' would probably be an improvement.

I think they carry a similar enough message that either one would be an ok response.

 

[Obfuscate]

who gives a shit? if someone is bent out of shape by your response that is Their problem... you did something nice, were thanked, and handed out a generic response... all of the social niceties have been covered and we can all move on with our day... i just choose a response based on mood and move on... unless something was a pain in my ass the words are unneeded...

post script:

if i did them a favor, why do they need validation via verbal nicety at all? fucking horseshit proprieties...

post post script:

someone was extremely rude to me when i offered to help with something moments before i replied... they are all interchangeable...

 

[Shiver]

Anyone who believes that they deserve a sincere remark of any kind from a cashier who is probably making minimum wage to put up with their insufferable ass is repulsive. They are only truly interested in dehumanizing that individual for their own sake and need to get hit by a bus. Yes, problem. How dare you fucking speak to me.

 

[anticlimatic]

Anyone who believes that they deserve a sincere remark of any kind from a cashier who is probably making minimum wage to put up with their insufferable ass is repulsive. They are only truly interested in dehumanizing that individual for their own sake and need to get hit by a bus. Yes, problem. How dare you fucking speak to me.

I might be eccentric but I don't think deserve has anything to do with it, and I think it's less human to distance ourselves from one another by retreating from well mannered curtesy and civility.

 

[citizen cane]

I say both depending on circumstance and context. If I give a gift or invite someone over to my house and they thank me, I say "you're welcome" because they're welcome to the gift and my house. If I hold a door for someone and they say thank you, I say "no problem" or "of course." And if someone's thank you is doubling as an apology, which happens sometimes even though I can't think of a specific example right now, I say "oh, no, it's fine."

This, more or less. It's all about context and level of familiarity.

 

[Coriolis]

I might be eccentric but I don't think deserve has anything to do with it, and I think it's less human to distance ourselves from one another by retreating from well mannered curtesy and civility.

Ah, but well mannered courtesy can be an excellent tool to help distance ourselves from others.

 

[anticlimatic]

Ah, but well mannered courtesy can be an excellent tool to help distance ourselves from others.

Standing on the steps in ankle deep water is still more in the pool that not getting in at all. And if you do want to get further in the pool, it's where you start.

"The stranger is not just the person who arrives today and walks off tomorrow. The stranger is the person who arrives today and stays on both tomorrow and maybe forever, but all the time with the potentiality to leave. Even if he or she does not go away, they have not quite abandoned the freedom in the possibility of leaving. This they know. So do their surroundings. He or she is a participant, a member, but less so than other people. The surroundings do not quite have a total grip on him. Often people are not more kind to each other or more careful in respecting other people's honour. The general explanation is simply that there is not so much to lose. Honour is not so important any more that one goes to the authorities when it is offended. Modern societies have an abundance of arrangements - intended and not so intended - which have as their end result that other people do not matter to the extent they once did. Our destiny is to be alone - private - or surrounded by people we only know to a limited extent, if we even know them at all."

 

[Riva]

I think I will use 'my pleasure' from now on.

 

[Shiver]

I might be eccentric but I don't think deserve has anything to do with it, and I think it's less human to distance ourselves from one another by retreating from well mannered curtesy and civility.

Demanding the performance is dehumanizing, as we know full well that what is expressed is likely inauthentic. The cashier is not a monkey dancing for one's amusement, yet nonetheless an act is expected purely for the customer's sake; it comes at the expense of the authenticity, that some semblance of a just world be validated for every delusional prick who goes through the cashier's line. "Customer service" extorts basic humanity - a person who is pressured to be less than authentic is a person who is pressured not to fully exist.

This is to say nothing of the idea ultimately held over employees:
"Thank the man for buying his $4 cigarettes or your kids go hungry."

This is civility?

 

[The Cat]

You know who has real conversations? Ants. They talk by vomiting chemicals into each other's mouths. They get right down to brass tracks. Bleh! "Which way's the picnic?" Bleh! "That way."

 

[edpen]

I think a 'No Problem' is better than a 'Fuck you'.

 

[The Cat]

If anyone regardless of "generation" is looking for alternatives.....
You’re welcome (F)
No Problem (I)
Sure thing (I)
No worries (I)
Cool (I)
It’s all gravy (I)
Certainly (F)
Of course (F)
That’s absolutely fine (F)
Don’t mention it (F/I)
It’s nothing (I/F)
No probs (I)
You’re very welcome (F/I)
It’s my pleasure (F)
No sweat (I)
Not a problem (I)
No Prob Bob (90's)
Pray don't mention it(Thorin Okenshield)
Forget about it (I)
T'wern't Nothin' (I)

 

[Obfuscate]

a person who is pressured to be less than authentic is a person who is pressured not to fully exist

there is something about your phrasing there that i enjoyed...

 

[anticlimatic]

Demanding the performance is dehumanizing, as we know full well that what is expressed is likely inauthentic. The cashier is not a monkey dancing for one's amusement, yet nonetheless an act is expected purely for the customer's sake; it comes at the expense of the authenticity, that some semblance of a just world be validated for every delusional prick who goes through the cashier's line. "Customer service" extorts basic humanity - a person who is pressured to be less than authentic is a person who is pressured not to fully exist.

This is to say nothing of the idea ultimately held over employees:
"Thank the man for buying his $4 cigarettes or your kids go hungry."

This is civility?

Civility is objective, and authenticity doesn't matter. It is not a performance of one person, but a performance of two. Hating or resenting your job has nothing to do with it, unless it inspires you to be uncivil due to some feelings of inadequacy- which is more on the employee than on the innocent customer who has arrived to negotiate an exchange (however petty it may be). Ideally civility is authentic, the same way it's ideal that the meal presented to you tastes good, but the entire point of civility is to keep commerce flowing smoothly in those (ideally rare) moments when it is not. If the moments are not rare, it might be a good time to get out of the service industry. It definitely worked wonders for me.

Considering how terrible most millennials are at business and trade I'm not surprised how many of them vie for socialism and put their own feelings of value over their own market viablility.

 

[Agent Washington]

Ive noticed millennials will try to class up their "no problem" by upgrading it to a deliberately punctuated "not a problem." Marginally better thanks to the additional effort, but it still falls flat to my ears. Like, I know it wasn't a problem. It was as easy as handing me a pen and I watched you do it. Is pointing out the obvious all you've got? Do you not care either way in helping someone or being appreciated for it?

... Aren't you 30? That would make you a millennial.