You're Welcome vs. No Problem

It was a couple of months ago, and I was hosting a visiting artist at the theater.  As I set up for him, he was keeping up a steady conversation with our librarian, which I could hear as I monkeyed around, refocusing lights, finalizing sound levels, etc...

"Why is it nobody says 'you're welcome' anymore?  It's always 'no problem.'"  At that point he began to range out of earshot, but I think there was something about graciousness, and the casual lack of it in younger people.

Later, when he was thanking me for all my work- despite overhearing this pet peeve piece of his worldview- out of sheer habit and muscle memory, I grinned and delivered a sunshiny

"No problem!"

Then I mentally kicked myself- but there was no taking it back.  I was one of those ungracious young people who would only do work I deemed to be "not a problem" while insinuating that the person I did the work for was a bit of a problem.  As if by denying that I had gone out of my way, I was really affirming that it was a pain in my ass.

And I heard one of the gray-faced, gray-suited members of the Committee for the Criticism of Morgan that has always resided in my head saying: "Then again, young lady, this type of 'out of your way' is in your contract...he is welcome to these services."  He was, everyone is- and to the best of my ability I always wanted people to feel comfortable, to feel welcomed, in the space.

Since then I have been chewing on this, and have been trying ever to slightly to retrain myself.

"Yooooooooou're weeeeeeeeeeelcome"

But I have become one of the breed that says "no problem."  The way Midwesterners say "you betcha," Spanish speakers say "de nada," and Aussies apparently say "no worries."  I will confess I fell into the geographically inappropriate habit of saying the latter during the spring, while I was juggling the audio versions of In a Sunburned Country and The Last Continent.  My mind is ever suggestible, and I was no match for Bill Bryson and Nigel Planer's voices in my head as I fell asleep.  Happily, once I moved on to other books, I recovered my sense of dignity before someone slapped me, or it got worse and I started sliding into a bad assumed accent.

So this response to "thank you" had been bothering me, and then a week ago, while catching a bit of Prairie Home Companion in the car, I heard Garrison Keillor go on a self-confessed elderly tear about the young people and their "no problem" problem.

What is a young(ish) person to do in the face of such generational discord?  And is it generational?  Did it start off as regional?  The passive aggressive "no problem" sounds about right for Mainers working in the service and tourist industry.  Oh the complexities of life when two two-word phrases face off!

Quit Rate

Do you ever listen to the news, and think "Hey, I am a part of that statistic!"

This was recently the case for me, as reporters and economists discussed the increase in the quit rate, and how it is an indicator that the job market is recovering.  People finally feel secure enough in their chances of finding work that they are willing to leave the jobs that do not suit them.

My seatbelt kept me from hopping up and down in my seat exclaiming "Me!!!  Me!!!  I am doing that!  It's terrifying, absolutely terrifying- and wonderful!!!"

Some of those people who have been grinding on the thought "I am mad as hell, and I am not going to take this any more" and keeping it behind their teeth, finally wrote tidy little letters, and are moving on to...

Well- I can't speak for anyone else comprising the statistic, but for me, I am moving on to fishing and writing- hopefully being able to cover expenses while focusing on a few things well enough to master them.  I loved the work I was doing- but it was about 5 jobs compressed into one, with more bosses than you could shake a stick at.  Not a recipe for longevity- the turn over rate in the position had been pretty high.

So I knew:

My candle burns at both ends;
   It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
   It gives a lovely light!

Mine lasted three years before burning out.  Now I look forward to reconstituting my particular candle- hopefully just as lovely, but longer burning.  Maybe find a position not so vulnerable to wind from every quarter.