Why Am I Now Always Having To Be Told It's "No Problem" For You, Whenever You Do Something For Me That's Actually Your Job, And Is What Someone Else Is Paying You To Do?

Merriam Webster ^ | June 3, 2021 | Self

[discostu]

Why people like you haven’t become mountain men is beyond my pay grade. Really, you are demonstrably pointlessly angry. Really it’s just plain stupid to get upset about this. Here’s the real base level of what happens:
Guy does something for you
You say thank you
They indicate that what they did for you was not a problem
You get pissed

Step 4 there ONLY happens if you’re one of those morons who goes through life looking for anger. As you said: it’s not all about you, you are not the enchilada. Get over yourself, accept the fact that you were apparently not difficult to serve, and move on with your life.

[discostu]

So what is the person supposed to say? You do actually understand how conversation works right? “Thank you” is a ping pong ball in a conversation, the other person is supposed to hit it back, it is not supposed to be left to dangle, it is not a conversation closer. So they gotta say SOMETHING. You’re welcome, all part of the job, not a problem, thanks come again SOMETHING. They are conversationally obligated by normal Western behavior to ACKNOWLEDGE your thanks. If you don’t want them to do that DON’T SAY “thank you”.

Really, you’re pissy for the sake of being pissy. Old man yelling at clouds. It ain’t the clouds, it’s you.

[outofsalt]

Let me guess, you’re a northerner. Down south, “My Pleasure” is well mannered and courteous.

No problem isn’t disrespectful. “Could you help me with my luggage?”
“No problem , sir. Let me take the big one.”
Not at all. Don’t mention it. It’s nothing. It’s no big deal.

[gspurlock]

I think it’s due to European influence, in France, they say “de rien” which means, “it’s nothing”. Ditto for Spanish, where the reply to thank you is “de nada” which also translates to “it’s nothing”.

I always say either “you’re welcome”, or “it was my pleasure”.

[SamAdams76]

I always like to say “I was a bit inconvenienced by having to help you out but I helped you out anyways.”

[SaxxonWoods]

I get you take it wrong, hey, no problem!

Hee hee,

[MD Expat in PA]

I am an office manager/PR manager/jack of all trades and when an employee asks me to do something like change their direct deposit or brings me a new W4 just before I'm submitting PR, or look up their PTO balance, answer time card/hours questions or their tax withholding questions and they say “Thank you”, I typically say, “You’re welcome” but often also say something like “Glad to help” or the dreaded “No problem” esp. when they continue to thank me as if I’d done something special. By saying “No problem” it’s my way of saying “It’s no problem” because it is my job to help them and therefore not a problem to help them. It was the same when I worked in retail, and I don’t get why this is offensive.

Now if I said, “you’re damned right to thank me, be thankful I took the time out of my busy schedule, you having interrupted me from other more important tasks just to deal with you, you unwashed slob and from someone well beneath my station in life”, well, that could be a problem and offensive. ;),

[Hot Tabasco]

No problem, no worries and my bad absolutely drive me nuts.

Me too.......On several occasions I have corrected those responses by saying it was appropriate to say "You're welcome".......

[jagusafr]

DON’T GET ME STARTED.

[Larry Lucido]

Did the person do the job?

Did the person do the job well?

Did the person avoid insulting you?

Leave it be.

[Larry Lucido]

I thought the French waiter in European Vacation was very accommodating. I couldn't tell what he was saying, because he was speaking French.

[ronniesgal]

a true gem. only had the 1 but it felt like 10 mothers in law.

[Chickensoup]

On my first of many mother’s days, as a mother of four, I asked my father whether he was going to wish me a happy mother’s day.

He said, Why, you’re not my mother.

[Chickensoup]

what is the frequency, Kenneth?

[4Runner]

It’s not a sleight of hand, it’s not a double negative.

If you'd bothered to read the original Merriam Webster article, you'd have found you are incorrect:

"Parsing the expression, we have a joining of two negatives: no means "not any," and problem implies a difficulty in accepting something. Someone so inclined could deduce that a reply of "no problem" implies that one might have had a problem or difficulty with the task but in the end that wasn't the case, and for that reason only they're happy to have obliged."

From the article.

[Ken H]

Heh!

[jjr153]

I agree. Whether you like it or not language is always evolving. Why obsess over the trivial and picayune.

[discostu]

The article is wrong. “I did not have a problem” is a single negative. And no thr problem is not a difficulty in accepting something, it is a difficulty in accomplishing something. “That thing I did for was not difficult.” Single negative.

Thus we prove that anybody who has a problem with “no problem” is really just a whiny idiot who can’t even understand simple English.

[one guy in new jersey]

An eager accountant, you!

[one guy in new jersey]

A Skipper of an AcDu Navy combatant One Guy knew would ream any sailor out for saying “No Problem” to him. “Oh, so it wasn’t a problem for you to do what it was I told you to do? That’s great. So happy to hear it. I was just so worried just then, thinking I might have put you out.”