I Have A Problem With 'No Problem'

So I'm at the grocery store ('supermarket' seems far too regal a word for our downtown Safeway), and the young girl is putting my stuff into my Patch bags. I pay for my groceries (and yikes! are things getting expensive) and thank the young girl for putting my stuff in the bags.

"No problem," she said.

This is one thing I've noticed for a few years now, and it continuously bugs me. When did "no problem" become the appropriate customer service response? It feels dismissive. Let's just continue the sentence. . . "no problem, I've done you a favor but don't think anything of it, really."

And that's the problem. Making me feel as though you've done me a favor by doing your job feels strange. The fact is, I've done you a favor. I've selected your establishment to patronize, and as a result you have employment. And a paycheck. For that, you should at least pretend to be grateful. And "no problem" does not come off as gratitude. It comes off as attitude.

I can't find too much fault with the youngsters, though. It's really up to the managers to train their employees on customer relations. So if you're a manager, please advise your youthful workforce (and your older one, too, for that matter) on the appropriate ways to interact with your customers.

Unless, of course, that's a problem.

1. Just want to take a second here to point out that Saturday will be the 50th wedding anniversary of Ed and Donna DiBetta. Martinez Patch wants to extend our heartfelt congratulations for this very special occasion.
2. Today at 3 p.m. the Martinez Waterfront Joint Powers Authority (Martinez and East Bay Regional Park District officials) will get together to discuss items of mutual interest. Included in those items is a request from the for a fence around the courts, to help prevent ongoing vandalism. Park board member Ted Radke is not fond of the idea. What do you think?
3. Tonight at 7 p.m. the Martinez City Council will discuss and perhaps approve the two-year budget for 2011-2013. The council promised to find $50,000 somewhere to prevent cutting hours for staff at the . Tonight perhaps we'll find out where that money came from, and if some other employee wound up getting their hours cut instead.
4. At last night's meeting, a proposal by celluar service T Mobile to install three antennae on top of an electrical tower at Hidden Valley Park drew absolutely no one to the meeting. T Mobile representative Karen Lienert said she sent out 140 notices about the proposal, and received only one response -- from someone in favor of the plan because it will improve reception. The commission will decide on the proposal later this summer.
5. Finally, there is a healthy debate going on in the 'comments' section of the How to Transform A City article from a couple of days ago. This is the kind of back and forth that makes online journalism more of a participatory activity than a passive experience.