Madeline Mann (Self Made Millennial) argues that responding to "thank you" with "no problem" can unintentionally imply inconvenience or indebtedness in professional settings. She shares an interview anecdote that prompted her to stop using the phrase regularly, notes a few exceptions where "no problem" is appropriate, and offers preferred alternatives ("you're welcome", "my pleasure", "happy to do it", "you got it").
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Hey, everyone. This is Self made Millennial. I'm Madeline Mann. Today's video is focused on just two words, and those two words are no problem. In this video, I'll tell you about how saying no problem can cause a rift in work situations and job interviews. I'll say, when are some times you can use that phrase as well as give you some alternate phrases that are better. So a few years ago, I was interviewing a candidate for a job, and I said, thanks so much for hopping on the phone and chatting with me today. And he yeah, no problem. And I noticed I felt this weird feeling all of a sudden, like the words no problem just kind of hung in the air. And I had this feeling like, was this call a potential problem for him? Does he feel like he's doing a favor by talking to us? Even though it's such a common phrase? No problem indicates that that person's going out of their way for you, which feels like a little bit icky to me. You know, no one ever wants to be in a job interview where the interest isn't mu. Now, before you start hammering on your keyboard that this woman is a snowflake who gets upset about a common phrase like no problem, I just want to say that I definitely did not reject this candidate based on that one second of interaction. It made me aware of how I was probably making other people feel when I was using this common phrase all the time. I realized that the phrase no problem was implying that there could have been a problem or as well as a little bit undermining my work by saying, oh, it was effortless. Well, good news for everyone out there. I have some alternate phrases that get way better results, though. Before I tell you those, I will say that there are times when saying no problem is a good thing to say, such as when you just really don't want people to feel indebted to you. Like the other day, I picked something up from the store for my coworker, and she goes, oh, my gosh, thank you so much. This means a lot. Wow, wow, wow. Thank you so much. And I said, no, it really was no problem. It was on my way. Don't worry about it. So there are some times when you don't want people to feel like they owe you to say no problem. Anywho, let's get to the alternate phrases. So the first one, which is probably pretty obvious, is saying, you're welcome. This is an old standby that shows that you're accepting the thank you. Sometimes I do feel a little cocky, though, when I'M using it in certain situations, so I use this one now. And then second alternative is to say my pleasure. This phrase is my favorite. I use it all the time. You'll probably notice that on a lot of comments that are thanking me for these videos, I often say my pleasure to show that I'm accepting the compliment, but also to show that the interaction is mutually rewarding for both of us. Then the other two phrases I sprinkle in in a work environment are happy to do it and you got it. You know, I started noticing how people were responding back to me when I would thank them. And in a workplace I realized that the most common response is silence. And so I thought about how that makes me feel when I thank someone and they don't say any back. And I realized I'm totally cool with it. I mean, as long as they heard what I said. Like that was the goal of the interaction. And so in the end, it's actually better to be silent than to say no problem. So I am a recovered no problem addict and I hope you are too. So if it's no problem with you, would you be able to hit a like on this video as well as subscribe? If you're not subscribed yet, do it now. We have videos coming out every week and thanks so much everyone. WiFi high five.
