My grandfather was very big on please, thank you and you’re welcome, and I picked some of that up from him.  It is always nice to be courteous and saying please and thank you are very simple ways of doing this.  But I think trends are changing.  (I may have pointed this out before but with more than 3,000 posts, I can’t remember and don’t intend to go back in search through them.)  I don’t see people saying “You’re welcome,” much anymore.  This is true even of myself.  Take your typical retail interaction:

You make a purchase, pay for your purchase, the retailer (sometimes) says “Thank you,” and I find myself responding with “Thanks,” or “thank you” as well.  I am, of course, thanking them for handing me my change or my package, but it skews the mechanics of the transaction.  So over the last couple of days I have conducted a little experiment.  I have tried to say “You’re welcome” each time someone thanks me for something.  This is more difficult than it seems.  For non-retail transaction–for things at work for instance, I am used to saying, “No problem,” or “Glad to help,” in response to “Thank you.”  Saying “you’re welcome,” feels almost condescending in a way, but I have been forcing myself to do it.

The results so far?  I don’t think anyone notices, although once-in-a-while, I’ve felt like the person I’ve interacted had the feeling that they were doing me the favor and that I should be thanking them, rather than saying, “You’re welcome.”  But my sample size is still small and I think I need to give it more time.

Thank you for listening. (Let’s see how many “you’re welcome” comments I get.)