I have to preface this with a confession. I am a Grammar Nazi. Errors in grammar and usage committed by OTHER PEOPLE make my skin crawl, and I have to bite my tongue to not correct them. I have much more tolerance for my own mistakes.
The other day my wife and I went out for breakfast. Our server was excellent. He didn't disappear for long periods of time, When we asked for something, it was quickly delivered. It was good service and he earned the good tip we gave him.
More than once we asked for something, and his response was "No problem." While that would not be my choice of words it certainly did not cause the aforementioned skin crawling. In that instance it is just a substitute for 'Yes'.
However, when he would deliver something to the table, refill our coffee or water, and one of us would say "Thank you", his response was the same, "No problem".
"No problem" is not the same as "You're welcome".
Petty? Of course it is, and yes I am an old fart. I was not particularly polite as a young man but I have grown to appreciate certain niceties that grease the wheels of society. Among those are "please", "thank you" and "you're welcome". While "no problem" could be an acceptable answer to the question "May I have another cup of coffee?", it is not a response to "thank you".
This concludes my petty peeve for the day.
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are screened, but you don't have to agree with me to get published. You do have to make sense though. If you are not sure what I mean by making sense, read this. Unless what you say is really, really stupid, and then I may publish it just so I can make fun of you.