What is a good response to "thank you" other than "you're welcome"?

My pleasure?

I say “Sure.”

Nee botha.

In French it is De rien (It’s nothing) or Il n’y a pas de quoi (which roughly translates to Don’t mention it.)

it was….my privilege

Anything other than “you’re welcome” discounts the thanks that are being offered.

I like “Happy I could help” when it’s appropriate to the situation. The response I can’t stand, especially from waiters and sales people, is “No problem.”

I think of “you’re welcome” as meaning “You are welcome to the service/favor/gift/whatever I provided to you.”

I like the phrases, “I was happy to help you,” or “It was my pleasure,” if they are true.

I don’t see the phrase, “You’re welcome,” as being lame. Like @Pachyderm_In_The_Room I do not like the phrase “No problem,” after I have thanked someone.

I’ll invoice you.

In my part of New England “no bother” (or “na botha” if you have the accent) is a pretty common expression.

In Quebec, you’re equally likely to hear “Bienvenue” (which is a direct translation from the English “welcome”, but not correct) as you are to hear “De rien” (it’s nothing). If you’re feeling fancier, you might say “Pas de quoi” (as @marinelife notes) or “Je vous en prie” / “Je t’en prie” (directly translated as “I beg you” / “I beg of you”, but really meaning please or thank you). Or you might even hear “Plaisir” (it’s my pleasure).

I’m one of those people that say “no problem.” I wasn’t aware so many people despised that phrase. Not that it’ll keep me from saying it. How exactly is it worse than “it’s nothing?” It’s not.

I don’t fixate on trivial stuff like how people respond when I thank them unless they’re overtly rude. Seriously, who cares?

“Saying “you’re welcome” after thank you has to be one of the lamest expressions in English.”

Not nearly as lame as “you bet ya”… pronounced (you betchya).

I’m all in favor of “You’re welcome.” (You are welcome to whatever service I performed or gift I gave you or whatever else you might be thanking me for. It’s a very polite, gracious, appropriate response.)

“No problem” irritates me so much, especially in a commercial setting, that I’d rather the person say nothing. Which, as it happens, is what a lot of people do. “No problem” implies that I ought to feel relieved at not having been a problem. As if handling my transaction or opening the door for me or answering my question were expected to be a problem and now they’re reassuring me that it wasn’t.

Honey, when I’m shopping at the store that’s paying your wages, and you take my money and hand me my purchase, I am not being a problem to you. I’m keeping you employed. It’s rude to suggest that you suspected me of being a nuisance right up until I thanked you for what you should be thanking me for: being a customer at your store.

A sincere smile works instead of “you’re welcome”

How exactly is it worse than “it’s nothing?” It’s not.”

@livelaughlove21, this may sound silly but the reason I don’t like to hear “No problem” from a waiter or sales person is because I think it sounds teenagey and insincere, but more so, because I automatically assume there’s no problem becayse they’re getting paid to provide problem-free service.

I will send you the invoice in the mail.

Anytime.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room If you’re assuming it’s no problem, why wouldn’t you assume you’re welcome to the service? And if you do assume that, why thank them at all?

I just think being annoyed by how someone responds to a “thank you” is pointless. If they don’t roll their eyes and walk away, I’m satisfied with whatever generic response they give me. Whether it’s “you’re welcome” or “no problem,” the message is exactly the same.

To me they’re no more the same than saying “Please excuse me” when you want to get by is the same as saying “Look out” or “Out of my way.”

“No problemo”, which is like no problem, but with a cool, Latin touch.

@Jeruba Care to explain how they aren’t conveying the same message?

You don’t think they’re the same because you have some preconceived notion that it’s rude to say “no problem,” no matter what the intention of the person saying it. That doesn’t make your notion true; it’s just your opinion. Everyone knows “out of my way” is rude. That isn’t really a valid comparison.

“No problem” implies it wasn’t a problem/imposition for them to provide the service. “You’re welcome” implies that you’re welcome to that service. It’s the same message.

Replying to this thread was…..
no problem.

Thank you, @Jeruba, for articulating my feelings about “No problem” better than I did. It’s something I’ve never expressed out loud so I was having a hard time saying exactly how it makes me feel.

Guess @livelaughlove21 and I will just have to agree to disagree.

I just say, “as you should.”

I always say, “I live to server.”

“Glad to be of service”
“Happy I could help.”

Well met.

I like to sever

Well, @livelaughlove21, it isn’t my intent to argue with you. I believe I was clear about the fact that I was expressing my opinion.

To answer your question, though, the context of an expression of gratitude does not entail the notion of a problem. To presume that it does is to shift the relationship between the speakers from one of giver and receiver to one of a potential problem-causer and a person potentially discommoded by the problem-causer. That is not at all the same thing.

And it’s the changing of that relationship—from “You are welcome to what I’ve given you” to “You might have been a problem to me, but you weren’t (or maybe you were, but I’m under a social obligation to deny it)”—that I object to.

However, I’d appreciate not having my mind read. It would take more than an exercise in mental telepathy to explain how I could have a “preconceived notion” about an expression that didn’t come into common use until I was already an adult and that affected me just as it does now the very first time I heard it.

I like “my pleasure”.

Live long and prosper. While giving the Spock Vulcan sign.

No biggy, Bro/Babe! ;-)

@Jeruba, at the risk of pummeling a dead horse, thank you again for explaining so well your feelings about “No problem.” Anyone who has ever eaten out with me has heard me whisper under my breath, “Why should it be or not be a problem? I got my food and you got paid.” Next time, I’ll use your reasons.

I’m with @livelaughlove21, who gives a shit, don’t sweat the small stuff.

I can tell you how it’s normal to respond in Danish to “tak(thank you”. Several options, either “selv tak” which directly translated means “self thank you” or “thank you too”, it can also be “det var så lidt” which means “that was so little” or “no big deal”.

In Italian they say “prego”.

The Aussies like “no worries”.

@tups, I like that selv tak. Simple and to the point. Unfortunately, there is no English equivalent. A while back, the expression “back at you” was popular, but mercifully has fallen out of use.

What do you think of using the expression “play it forward.” I like the idea behind it, though the wording may be a bit awkward. It is a way of saying that you are not obligated to me for what I have done, but if you appreciate what I did, keep the spirit of it alive by helping others.

Well, @ucme, I guess we all give shits and sweats for different stuff. That’s one of the things that makes us jellies. ;-)

Signing off this thread.

I don’t sweat, being a laydee…I perspire ;-}

@ucme “Horses sweat. Men perspire. Ladies gently glow.” (The Good Life).

To answer the original question, I don’t have any issue with “You’re welcome”, and I use it. I also use “My pleasure.” But I do think “No problem” is lame.

@downtide Gawd bless Margo, I had a secret crush on her for a spell.

@LostInParadise “Play it forward”? Hm, you are right, it’s a bit awkward, but I like the meaning behind it. I think it can easily be misunderstood.

@LostInParadise @tups “Play it forward” is awkward because that’s not the correct phrase. It’s ”pay it forward,” not play. -

You know, like the Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt, and Kevin Spacey movie from the early 2000s?

It is “a term for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor.”