This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff

I've got a fair bit of cultural conditioning that, for the longest while, made me feel straight-up guilty when having to bother another person to ask them for assistance. It's like an actual aversion, and until quite recently I was positively demure around people I didn't know that well, assuming despite all evidence to the contrary that they were exceptionally busy people with no time for me.

As such, my view on the whole debate's a bit screwy; "thanks" is nigh-automatically appended to anything I say. Even answering things like "would you like a bag for your groceries?" ("Nah, thanks though, I've got this one")

I think I prefer "Thanks" to "Yes, please" because of that whiny little "eeeee" in "please". I get the perception there's a fair bit of sarcasm and counter-sarcasm entrenched in the word, too, which leaves me too uncertain whether saying "please" would be misconstrued as some kind of attempt at sarcastic, overtly pandering good manners. I dunno. My head is weird.

More often for requests, I use "would you..." or "could you..." or append whatever I need done with "hey, do you have a minute" or "could I ask a favour?"

I know, grammatically, that last one is still rather flaccid, not to mention I'll get the occasional smartass who's all "you can, but will you" or whatever. I feel it breaks the ice in a similar-ish way though, and it seems to work for me???