Allegedly seven times harder to unlearn.
I have noticed, in the past few days, that I have developed the annoying–to me, at least–habit of saying “uh-huh” when anybody at work says thank you for completing a task they’ve assigned me.
“Thanks.”
“Uh-huh.”
I’m not sure how this developed, or how long it’s been there. I know that in my mind, it’s a shorthand version of “sure thing,” but when I listen to it myself, it sounds more like “yes, you should thank me.” Not tonally, necessarily, but just as it is–it sounds very Diva of me.
I have no knowledge or evidence that this disturbs anybody but me, but really, that should be enough.
I have embarked on an attempt to wean myself from “uh-huh,” and work my way back to something closer to “you’re welcome,” which is actually harder than one might think. For as much as physical habits–biting nails, chewing hair, etcetera–are difficult to break, so too are verbal habits, and especially so in verbal parlance of conventional, almost throwaway interaction. I’ve gotten used to saying “Morning,” as opposed to “Good Morning,” and “Hey,” as opposed to “Hi.”
Of course, something Ellen DeGeneres once said has stuck with me recently, about how silly it is to obsess about what other people are thinking about you because most of them are too busy obsessing about what you think of them to bother forming an opinion of you.
Nonetheless. I want people to be welcome, when they thank me.
Thus far, I have managed to work up to “no problem!” We shall see what happens. Hopefully there won’t be an entry in the future reading:
Disaster! Have begun responding to “Thank you” with “I live to serve! All glory to Graal of the Blood Clan!”
Creative Control 