Closing a Conversation

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I ran into this again today. I had a wonderful (but not very long or deep--it just went so smoothly, that's why I thought it was wonderful) conversation involving helping a woman with some merchandise at a store I don't even work at. At the end of it, the woman thanked me. And I said, "You're welcome," in a higher tone of voice in a very friendly tone. (I fear it was too patronizing of a tone as well.) Should I have just nodded and went "mm-hmm" at the end of the conversation, instead? or should I have said "You're welcome"

You see, I don't want to act as if I'm ignoring people or "blowing them off," so I make my intentions much clearer and forceful. When I was younger, I did this.

I don't want to seem like a know-it-all.

This is happening more and more and it is anxiety provoking. I'm starting to get the feel for conversation. Yet, I become anxious if I feel that I said the wrong thing or left the wrong impression to the person I was talking to. It's not so bad if you never see the person again. But what if that woman in the store had been a coworker?

I totally understand your anxiety, 100% - but I'm not sure whether it is a reasonable anxiety. "You're welcome" sounds like a perfect way to react to "Thank you.". Probably preferable to "Mmm-mmm". Did, for as far as you can see, the woman in question give any response indicating that you were patronizing?

In the end, you'll never be able to see totally what your conversation looks like at the receiving end. And understanding body language/subtle signals, well... I think the best thing to do is try and not get too worried, be polite and pleasant, and go into damage control mode (explain/apologize) if you have reason to believe that you really stepped on the toes of a coworker or something.

I said to a librarian, "Thank you - very much."
And his sidekick mimicked me.
Duh?
Obviously I'm doing it wrong - *again*!
Don't ask why I said it that way, I have no idea.
Maybe it worked somewhere. Thing is, there are probably a zillion ways to thank people and if one of them works, I use it everywhere, which makes me wrong most of the time.

"You bet," is one of the most useful all-purpose phrases I know. Right up there with "reckon," which can be used as a confirmation response, "I reckon," or the more skeptical, "Ya' reckon?"

I don't know the answers to those questions, but I do know this: I got a load off my chest! I don't have to carry that incident around in secret shame any more. Maybe I'm not a horse's patootie after all. Thank you. And thank Alex. And thank WrongPlanet. Very much.

try not to worry about things you did in the past since you cant change them... just try to pay more attention to your tone in the future. i tend to think too much about what ive said/how ive said it to though, so i totally understand. im not sure how "you're welcome" could ever sound patronizing, unless it sounded sarcastic or something so i would try not to worry about it.