Wednesday, July 2, 2008

You're Welcome

Okay, so I was thinking the other day about how parents always tell there kids to say Thank You. I myself witness this constantly as a server, and sometimes get stuck at a table for way too long simply because I'm waiting for some shy kid to just listen to their mother and tell me thank you.

But what about You're Welcome. How often do you hear a mother or father say "Say You're Welcome Honey!"

The answer is never. I know my mom and dad never forced me to say it. It was always " Say please Madelyn" or "Say Excuse me Madelyn." But not once do I remember them making me say You're welcome.

Well now, here I am, 24 years old and finding it almost impossible to say those two (well sort of three) little words. All I ever say is "yuppers" or "no problem". I think most of the time I'm afraid to say it because saying you're welcome is like saying "yes, I know I did a wonderful thing and you are now forever in my debt."

Thoughts?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I used to say "no problem", but it doesn't come off very lady like. So you know what I have trained myself to say?? "It's my pleasure". Now I say it too much..... the people @ work have told me so.
On a related topic........How many times a shift do you say "enjoy your meal" and then the customer says "you too". I do it all the time and I feel like an idiot.

cadiz12 said...

i recently overheard someone say that in the Midwest everyone says "uh-huh" instead of "you're welcome," and how that was incredibly rude. i didn't think it was true until i started paying attention. i guess it is, but i'm not sure it's rude.

i vote for saying "you're welcome" because often it's the only acknowledgment you're going to get about whatever nice thing you've done.

Anonymous said...

I vote with Amanda.

Anonymous said...

I was in a department store yesterday and I heard a mom ask her daughter, "what do you say?" the girl said "thank you" but the mom said, "No, honey, now you say 'you're welcome.'"

Until that exchange I really thought Madelyn had a point. But I guess the real answer is that most of the time kids don't do stuff worth thanking them for.

I say "no problem" and I feel like an idiot, but in my line of work "it's my pleasure" might be overkill. I need to learn to say "you're welcome."