“I Appreciate You”
A Cop Out For THANK YOU
An Observation with Some History
‘I Appreciate You’
Where did this phrase originate? Doing a little research, I found it to be a cross between the Southern African American saying, ‘I appreciate it’ or ‘Much Obliged’ to Ted Lasso, ‘preciate ya!’
It seems ‘I appreciate you” is a standard in the world of hospitality, service, food and beverage, something meaningless to say to customers, something dismissive, patronizing, fake, indifferent, the end of a transaction, a hint ‘it’s time to leave,’ a time to move on – get out – go home.
There is history that it also stems from the pandemic: something customers said to servers/retailers/those in hospitality/workers-also meaningless, impersonal, selfish, feel-good-about-me-saying to say to those underlings, those people who take care of us every step of the way during our outing into the world.
To ME, and ME alone, ‘I appreciate you,’ is an incomplete sentence. Please complete the sentence…WHY? Why do YOU appreciate ME? Tell me the specific reason. IF you cannot complete the sentence, then just say the more human, the more personal, the more true (IF you mean it)… THANK YOU.
‘I appreciate you’ PISSES me off. It means the exact opposite of what YOU may think it conveys. It means nothing to me. It only seems to make you, the sayer feel good about you.
I’d rather hear THANK YOU. It’s shorter, simpler and more honest and shares a bond, a feeling between YOU and ME. A true appreciation of the person you so seem to want to know that you appreciate.
IF you dare say, ‘I appreciate you,’ to me, I will ask you WHY? That will most likely be a shock since you will not know what next to say, so please, just say Thank You, but only if you mean it.
