A buddy of mine has offered this timely and relevant nugget of wisdom, which I am sharing here.
“If you have children, please teach them that ‘you’re welcome’ is the correct response to ‘thank you.’ And that ‘no problem’ is a phrase that can go just away. I realize that there are more pressing concerns in the world, but the decline of civility, and basic functional English phrases that have endured for centuries, gives me a sad.”
The fellow who posted this on social media is a friend and former colleague of mine at the Amarillo Globe-News. He’s since moved away.
His social media post is so very true that I wanted to pass it along to my own network of friends, acquaintances and readers of this blog.
I get the “no problem” response constantly during my travels through our city. The more I hear it, the more annoyed I become.
I haven’t lashed out at a young’n for saying it … at least not yet. That doesn’t mean I won’t some day.
If you catch me on a bad day, I’m likely to strike back. For example, I once walked into a coffee shop here in town and was treated with what I only can describe as extraordinary rudeness. The young man who took my drink order was having a bad morning; he wouldn’t look me in the eye when I gave him my order; when he handed it to me, he did so while looking the other way and bitching at a colleague of his about the lack of something-or-other behind the counter.
I wrote the manager of said coffee shop, registered my complaint — and the place made a good-faith effort to make it up to me.
Perhaps it was a sign of the “lack of civility” that my friend mentioned. We’ve bemoaned the lack of civility in the halls of power, be they in Washington or Austin or perhaps of late even at Amarillo City Hall.
His post reminds me of something U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, told me many years ago. He lays down several rules for his congressional interns to follow when they go to work at his office.
One of them is to “Call your mother” regularly. Another of them is to say “You’re welcome” when a constituent thanks them for helping with an issue that needs a resolution. “No problem” doesn’t cut it in Thornberry’s office.
Nor with me … or my old pal.