You say, "Thank you". I say, "You're welcome".

You say "Thank you". I say, "You're welcome". At least that's how my mother taught me. It's good manners to respond to a "thank you", with a "you're welcome". But, it seems like many people either didn't learn their manners the same way I did or maybe they just don't have any manners. Either way, I've got a pet peeve to rant on as a hiatus from the heavy tech nature of my last couple of posts (Cheryl, I'm primarily thinking of you as I write this non-techie post).

It's pandemic: waiters, store clerks, gas station attendants, even the phone person who helped me with my recent airfare purchase. All of them responded to my "thank you" by saying something like "no problem" or "yep" or "sure". It may be my upbringing to be mannerly. It may be my Southern roots. It may be just some other voice in my head that translates what I hear, when I hear any of those responses. But whatever the reason, when I hear anything other than "you're welcome", it immediately seems rude to me. When I hear "no problem", I think, "it shouldn't be a problem since I'm paying you for your time and service". Or, when I hear "yep", I immediately picture a gum-smacking, sixteen year old rolling their eyes at me and breathing a long-suffering sigh in my direction as they trudge back to the kitchen to get the baked potato that was left off my order.

Somehow saying "you're welcome" at least gives me the impression that you are having a personal interaction with me and not just giving me your time/attention/service because you have to be there when you'd really rather be anywhere else. It just seems like the "nice" and polite thing to say.

I know it's likely that only I have an objection to such flip responses, but I admit it. I do.

So, if you happen to get a "thank you" from me, I'd really appreciate a "you're welcome".

Thank you for reading. ;)