Since this topic has surfaced I have taken more close note of how service persons respond to me. I am one of those types that insist on making requests that begin with "May I please have" and when the request is fulfilled I say "Thank you". Say "please" when placing an order through the speaker for a soda at the drive-through window. Say "thank you" when they tell me how much it will cost me. Say "thank you" again when they shove it out the window at me. I go through the same when ordering at any kind of sit-down foodery from greasy spoon to prix fixe sooper-swanky place. Same at the deli counter, the auto parts store, or the local flea market swap meet.
So far in response to "thank you" I've gotten:
- "OK" from the speaker, but "Sure" from the person thrusting the icy beverage out the window.
- "You're welcome" at the deli counter (but the lady working there is older than me and grew up in Greece)
- Nada/zip/bupkis at the parts place
- Everything from "you're welcome" to "sure, baby" at the local diner where I'm a regular, depending on which person is serving, and "You are certainly welcome" from the waitress at the Waffle House who has lasted longer than anyone expected and actually seems to like that as a job.
- "But of course" seems to be drilled into everybody at the prix fixe sooper-swanky place, based on one visit there.
- "De nada" from everybody at the flea market, regardless of obvious or not-so-obvious country of origin. (Is Mississippi a foreign country? I'm asking because the gentleman I asked about his use of Spanish said he is not from 'Murrica but from Mississippi. If he were any blacker he would start sucking planets in. But he's the only one who packs the vegetables he picked early in the morning in straw to keep them fresh.
stay safe.
