Excessive Thanking

[Broomjockey]

Being told thank-you at the end of a transaction is kinda nice, nicer if you can tell they mean it. Then you get the people I'm about to describe. I don't know if their parents just drilled it in to them when they were kids, or they're doing it to shut me up, or what, but when people use Thank-you this much, they don't mean it, it loses meaning for me, and it makes me at being interrupted so much. I swear, this exchange happens way too often.

Me: Hi, just lemme see your tickets there *rip and hand back* you're in...
SC: Thank you
Me: Theatre Seven which...
SC: Thank you
Me: is *point* right before concession...
SC: Thank you
Me: down there, Enjoy...
SC: Thank you
Me: your show.
SC: Thanks.

Geez people, this is the shortened version I'm telling you, you want me to switch to the head-office formulated script? These people would go insane! What we are supposed to say is:

Me: Welcome to *Blank* Theatres, how are you doing today? You're seeing "Really long movie title" at whatever time, it's in auditorium seven, the third theatre down on your right. I hope you enjoy your show and have a nice day.

(And corp. actually expects us to get that out when you sometimes have to rip on average during a rush 500 tickets or more in 1.5 hours.)

My parents taught me to mean it when I say please and thank you. That means I don't in fact toss it out every single time.
Ex. Server takes my order, he's supposed to, no thank you needed. He brings me a drink refill, I say thank you, he's taking extra time for me now. Someone clears my table shortly after I'm finished, I say thank you. Takes them 10-15 min. No thank you. But at least when I do say it, people can tell I mean it, and its not some hollow formality dictated by society.

Sorry, these people have just been annoying me to no end lately over

[Ryu]

I get the same thing
"Enjoy your show"
"Thanks, you too"
99% of the people dont realize what they said, they just say it which is more annoying then not saying anything as its a distraction from the 500 other customers that hour

[susan]

That would always drive me up the wall too, especially on the phone. It's kind of funny though, because I would get just as annoyed with people who didn't thank me at all!

What really drove me nuts was excessive thanking coupled with excessive use of my name. And I know that they were just trying to be nice and polite, and to show me that they thought of me as a real person, not just another automaton on the end of the line. But it just seemed fake and condescending. I'm giving you my name because it's company policy, not because I want you to be my new best friend. However, once I started to use a fake name, it didn't irritate me nearly as much. I guess because it felt like they were talking to a different person!

[NightAngel]

You know I'd considered starting a thread like this before but I thought perhaps I had become too jaded or something.

I'm SO GLAD to know it bugs other people also.

I'm always happy to hear a well meant Thank-You at the end of a transaction or if I do something outstanding during a transaction- but FOR THE LOVE OF GORD! DO NOT THANK ME EVERY 2 SECONDS!

I know you mean to be polite but really you're just annoying.

[Kiwi]

growing up I was taught to say thank you, very very strictly

now its just a habit, I usually even say it when I dont need to

its not that I dont mean it, its that it blurts out of my gob before I can stop myself.

better than them telling you to hurry the heck up though....

[NightWolf]

For me sometimes stuff like that is just habit. I may have my mind on other things and not fully paying attention to whats going on. I really do mean it if I say it, just sometimes I open my mouth before I think.

Kinda like the other day on the phone. I'm so used to thanking people for calling us, that I actually called my boss at corporate and then towards the end of the coversation I thanked him for calling.

DERRRRR.......brain fart!

[Dips]

We have someone on the user-helping-user listserv I moderate who used to post, to the entire list of 400+ subscribers, a personal "thank you" to every single person who answered her questions.

She sometimes would get up to seven replies to a single question and would post seven "thank you" notes that would fill up over 400 people's inboxes. And she had a LOT of questions.

She's a dear person and actually took it rather well when I explained how to reply privately, even though she was genuinely puzzled that people would be annoyed by her posts.

She's a reformed serial thanker now.

[Margrave]

I currently run concessions for a student group that shows movies in one of our auditoriums on weekends (effectively a small second- or third-run theater). Whenever I go to a first-run theater and buy concessions, if they don't say "enjoy the show", I will, out of habit.

[Becks]

"Enjoy your show"
"Thanks, you too"
99% of the people dont realize what they said, they just say it which is more annoying then not saying anything as its a distraction from the 500 other customers that hour

I know what you're saying, but sometimes I'll automatically say the "Thanks. You, too."...and then realize what I said. It's not that I'm not being sincere--sometimes my brain processes slower than I hear. Grrrrrrrrrr. It takes talent to be me.

[SmileyBouncer]

yeah k thanks

I think we are well into the point in history where people just say things- all day- automatically. There are too many Ps and Qs to mind and I think a lot of people are on auto-pilot- I wonder what percentage of speech really has thought behind it anymore-

Anyway I work in the Travel Industry and at the end of calls with nicer clients I'll say "Have a great trip!" and they say "you too!"... yeah. i'm trippin. this desk is really uh . trippy. k thanks.


*trippin*

[ahanix1989]

I say "Thanks" at more... appropriate times. After placing a drive-through order, I thank them as I pull away. Then, because it's usually someone else, after they give me my debit card back and tell me to pull forward. Then finally, to the last person, as they give me my food

[Anakah]

I hate it when I'm getting their money together and I am trying to concentrate and all I hear is: Thank you. Even before I've handed it out!

And when I am counting it back to them. "Thank you."

I've had people who won't stop saying it until I say "You're welcome." Which throws off my concentration and if I'm forking out like two grand, shut up and let me finish counting!

Take a breather. I understand you're trying to be polite but one thank you is good enough. I say: "You're welcome" at least a hundred times a day, try not to make me say it ten billion times more.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I get the same thing
"Enjoy your show"
"Thanks, you too"
99% of the people dont realize what they said, they just say it which is more annoying then not saying anything as its a distraction from the 500 other customers that hour

This probably comes from people who are used to dealing with retail people who end with "Have a nice day" or something to that effect, so they add "You too" automatically. Just proves they aren't listening, or at least not paying attention to where they're at

I've had people who won't stop saying it until I say "You're welcome." Which throws off my concentration and if I'm forking out like two grand, shut up and let me finish counting!

I had a woman once who thanked me after I rang her up, and then I was slipping her charge slip into my folder with one hand and gathering her bag with the other, so it took me a second to respond; before I could say anything, she says to me, in her best talking-to-a-four-year-old voice, "Now you say "You're Welcome." Bitch.

We have someone on the user-helping-user listserv I moderate who used to post, to the entire list of 400+ subscribers, a personal "thank you" to every single person who answered her questions.
.

Not a Thank You, but when someone gets promoted or is leaving, and they send an email announcing it to the whole local facility (3 buildings worth and sometimes the NYC offices too) people will hit Reply All and we'll get 20 people congratulating the person to all of us. And the the person will sometimes thank us all too

[Sir Spaniard the 12th]

I've had the same thing, saying thankyou or have a good day when it either is completely unnessessary, or doesn't fit the conversation at that time.

Why? Because it has become a purely automatic thing from working in that hell of a gas station for 5 years.

[katie kaboom]

When i was a cashier at a grocery store i used to get this one regular customer that had a bad habit of saying thank you after every single thing i did. I'd scan his stuff, he'd say thank you, i'd get his cigarettes, he'd say thank you. i'd tell him his total, he'd hand me his card, i'd swipe it, hand it back, and he'd say thank you. I'd bag his stuff, he'd say thank you. I'd put it in his cart, he'd say thank you. While it does get annoying at times, at least he meant well, and it's a heck of a lot better than someone being rude to you every time they open their mouth.