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Nov 12
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Have you noticed that we don’t say, “you’re welcome” anymore? Go ahead, check it out. Next time you say “thank you” to someone, listen to his or her response. Listen to your own response when someone thanks you. I bet that it won’t be “you’re welcome”. What happened to “you’re welcome”? Why don’t we use it anymore? I like it. It is warm and civilized. It is humble, yet inviting. It is just plain appropriate. “You’re welcome” is like peanut butter and honey. It works. The thank you/you’re welcome exchange produces smiles, promotes peace, and maintains harmony.
So, what is used instead of “you’re welcome”? The three most comment responses I hear are, “no problem”, “no worries”, and the one I understand the least, “thank you”. The intention of using “no problem” is not good. It says, “It’s cool that you are thanking me, but don’t think anything of it, you don’t have to thank me, be gone, it was no problem”. But where’s the warmth and civility? How is it humble or inviting to make the person who just thanked you feel inferior? It’s inappropriate, does not produce smiles, promote peace, nor maintain harmony. Instead, it leaves you dumbfounded and thinking, “No problem? Who said it was supposed to be a problem?” It is like peanut butter and mayonnaise. It doesn’t work. I feel the same away about the “no worries” response, but it gets a pass because it came over from Australia so it’s still kind of hip to use it. The strangest one to me is the “Thank You” response. What? Thank someone for thanking you? Are you supposed to then thank him or her back? Then what? More thanking? This is not as condescending and evil as “no problem” and not as hip as “no worries”, but it can’t be the smile, peace, and harmony machine that “you’re welcome” is because it is confusing and causes people to focus too much on how to end a conversation.
So, it’s simple really. If you like to smile and are peaceful and harmonious, you’ll use “you’re welcome”. If you aspire to smile more and long to be peaceful and harmonious, you’ll use “you’re welcome”. If you like peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches, think it’s cool to speak Australian, or like to confuse people, you will use one of the unacceptable responses. Don’t do that!
Bring back “You’re Welcome” and help to make the world a better place.
Thank you!
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