An everyday conversation at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru window might go a little something like this:

“Here’s your meal. Enjoy!”

“Thanks!”

“My pleasure!”

Take note of the last line in particular. Have you ever noticed that every Chick-fil-A employee will respond with “my pleasure” or a similar variation when prompted with a customer’s thanks? If you did, have you thought about why?

I was not aware that all Chick-fil-A employees were taught this response until last year, when my classmate brought up his time as a Chick-fil-A trainee. I had always enjoyed Chick-fil-A, but beyond their superb waffle fries and their top-notch chicken nuggets, I did not think about why it was a restaurant chain renowned by customers as one of the best.

In fact, S. Truett Cathy designated “my pleasure” as the official phrase of response to all Chick-fil-A customers, an action that emphasized his focus on customer satisfaction and the importance of the little things.

This information caused me to take a closer look at my own response to “thank you,” what the standard English response taught in school is, and other alternatives. What I observed may be interesting.

For me, I’ve found that though I was taught to say “you’re welcome” in response to “thank you,” I tend to respond with “no problem” instead. This is a common response among Americans, but I have found that I almost exclusively say “no problem” instead of the standard alternative “you’re welcome.” Why? I believe that I unconsciously switched to “no problem” because I found the “you” in “you’re welcome” too direct and forward. “You” is a word I use cautiously, as it is a bit of a trigger word for nearly everyone. As soon as “you” is mentioned, the sentence immediately becomes way more personal. I must have perceived this and stopped using “you’re welcome” because I am more comfortable with the impersonal “no problem.” Furthermore, I always think of the character Sadie from the T.V. show “Awkward” and the way she says “you’re welcome”:

When I was first reanalyzing “you’re welcome,” I thought, ‘Wait — that doesn’t even make sense. What are you welcome to? It almost seems like I’m acknowledging that I did something for you and you’re now in my debt, which is altogether too forward (see “forget it” or “don’t mention it”).’ To people from some foreign countries who learn English, “you’re welcome” can seem rude or self-centered, like “yes, I did do you a favor; you’re welcome,” which is pretty much how the character Sadie means it in the .gif image above.

But really, the literal meaning of “you’re welcome” is closer to “you’re welcome to ask me again,” similar to “anytime.” But the phrase can still be misconstrued and is just ambiguous in general, especially compared to the standard response to “thank you” in other languages. For example, in Spanish the response is literally “[it’s] of nothing,” or essentially “no problem,” and in Chinese the response is roughly “there’s no need to be so polite/to thank me,” or essentially “my pleasure.”

I think S. Truett Cathy knew what he was doing with his installation the “my pleasure” policy, as a “my pleasure” really does seem to warm the receiver’s heart. At least it always pleasantly surprises me. All this word analysis may be making your head hurt, so just leave with this notion: if you’re looking for a more cordial alternative to  “you’re welcome,” try a warm “my pleasure.”