Why do we say thank you to people who have only done their job?

[thetruthhurts]

Bus drivers, bar staff, cashiers,waitresses, etc etc etc. Surely a 'thank you' should be for someone who has put themselves out for you or gone beyond the call of duty for you done you a favour. So, why do we thank someone for serving us, when, that is what they are paid to do?

[ChuckFickens]

Because it's polite.

[squarebear]

That's good manners.

[Bbbananas]

It's called:- Manners.

[piggynose]

because some of are polite, and it costs nothing

[benny3008]

The truth hurts thetruthhurts, its good manners!

[Count-A-Strong]

1. because it's polite
2. You are recognising their efforts
3. It's good to let people know they're doing a good job

[piggynose]

sorry, correction, because some of us are polite, and it costs nothing

[thetruthhurts]

I was playing devils advocate here. My partners Father raised this question about an hour ago andIi told him pretty much the same as I've seen here and I said I would post the question to see what others thought. He has read your answers and 'sort of' agrees now lol thank you all by the way!

[craft1948]

I say thank you to the automated alarm calls in hotels..........I can't help it.

[boxtops]

On a similar point - why do we say "sorry" when someone bumps into you, or if someone stands on your foot?

[237SJ]

Because it`s polite and manners and without that we wouldn`t have a polite society

[boxtops]

It's overly polite when you apologise for someone else being clumsy, though!

[sara3]

no one thanks me when I prosecute them.. how rude!

[lardhelmet]

Or stop when the vehicle coming towards you (when you've got the right of way) just carries on driving at you and will hit you if you dont give way. So you say loudly "Thank you very much you friend (or something else beginning with F)!"

[237SJ]

When I`m at work I work in a very confined area and it can be stressfull. My colleagues and I constantly say Sorry to each other. One day we decided to forego the sorry for a 5p donation to charity. We agreed to bump into each other, step in front of each other etc without saying anything. We made quite a bit of money for charity but it was very strange to feel irate because nobody apologised. Being polite makes life a whole lot easier.

[jake-the-peg]

You didn't get many good answers here did you?

Everybody just told you what the procedure was called and that it was expected

Nobody really addressed the idea of why we have these protocols.

Personally I think there are a few reasons.

It probably evolved from the need to show deference to powerful people, as social convensions relaxed you couldn't always tell who was important and powerful from the amount of pearls and diamonds sewn onto their clothes so the safest thing was to generall use the "polite" forms showing deference to everybody - and this became cultural you are brought up to do it without question and you bring up your children to do it.

Not doing so is seen as arrogant and brings disapproval.

The other reason is that it punctuates and terminates a meeting in language. Someone says "thank you" othen the other person repeats it and everybody knnows that the transaction is over - much the way that people use the word goodbye.

Just walking away without a conversation terminator can take people by surprise by the sudden abrupt ending of the meeting

[Greedyfly]

It's good manners and makes the person hearing it feel good about the work they are doing!

[squarebear]

When the automated checkouts came in to Tesco, I remember hearing an old lady say thank you to one of them.

[jake-the-peg]

That's basically what everybody said Greedyfly - but it's not the point

What are mannersbut a form of social convention?

Presumably you've just been taught that a form of words is "good" and omitting them is "bad" do they form any purpose other than demonstrating to each other that we share a common cultural background?

Just to say "well it's just polite weren't you taught that?"! misses the point.

[EngTeach]

I think being polite is just part of it. Many of these jobs (bus driver, cashier waitress) deal with the public and a lot of people just take them for granted. It is a way of acknowledging, not only the job, but the person as well. I only ride the bus in bad weather, so when I leave the bus I always say, "Thank you, be safe". Without that person, I could not get to my job, so my thanks is genuine.

I was on the bus with a student once and she heard me say that. She later told me that she thought it was odd, but started doing it herself and found that the driver was always pleasant to her after that.