Jeneta: Increasingly, I've noticed

Answer choices

1. A

   Deepens Paradox4% picked this

   Customers regard themselves as doing salespeople a favor by buying from them as opposed

   This makes the store and the friend situations more similar. We need a way to distinguish them. When we've done a friend a favor, we regard ourselves as having done them a favor (obvi), so we say "you're welcome". If we regard purchases similarly as doing the salesperson a favor, then we would seemingly also say "you're welcome".

   4%
2. B

   No Distinction / No Impact2% picked this

   Salespeople are often instructed by their employers to thank customers, whereas customers are free to

   This provides no distinction between the store scenario and the friend scenario. In the store, we are free to say what we want (we can say "thank you", "you're welcome", or anything we choose). Okay, but in the friend scenario we are also free to say what we want. So since that doesn't present any distinction between the two situations, it doesn't offer a way to explain why we say "thank you" in one situation but "you're welcome" in the other.

   2%
3. C

   Unrelated to Goal3% picked this

   Salespeople do not regard customers who buy from them as doing

   This answer would explain why a friend would say "Thanks!" when we've done them a favor but a salesperson wouldn't say "Thanks" when we've made a purchase. But in both cases, the friend and the salesperson do say "Thanks", so the question still remains why our response to one is different from our response to the other. The correct answer should be about the customer, not the salesperson.

   3%
4. D

   No Distinction9% picked this

   The way that people respond to being thanked is generally determined by habit rather than

   This answer applies to both the store and the friend situation similarly. In both cases, we are responding to being thanked, and so in both cases our response will be determined by habit. But why do we have a habit of saying "thank you" to salespeople and saying "you're welcome" to friends?

   9%
5. E

   Correct82% picked this

   In a commercial transaction, as opposed to a favor, the customer feels that the

   Why this is right

   This provides a distinction; it even spells out the fact that in the case of doing someone a favor you do not feel mutual benefit. The benefit is one-sided. You helped your friend move apartments. They benefited a lot. You worked your butt off. So you say "you're welcome" when they thank you because it's asymmetric. When you give the salesperson your money and he gives you an Xbox, you feel like you just benefited, so you express your gratitude for your new Xbox by saying "Thank you".

   Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   82%