...to get irritated by people who say 'see you later'

[MrsSippy]

In shops and supermarkets, you go to the till, you pay, you say thanks, goodbye, and then they say 'see you later'!! Why?? Are you coming for tea???

It just seems weird and lazy

Worral Even weirder than TV presenters saying it is RADIO ANNOUNCERS saying it . Yes I have heard this and thought WTF?????

You'd love my husband. He just says "lates".

The first time I heard this phrase was from a work colleague and I did think that he meant he was coming back later. It's not a phrase I've ever used, unless I am literally going to see someone later.
I catch myself saying ' Bye now' sometimes and I cringe every time. Why I can't just say goodbye I have no idea.
Or even 'bye for now' might make more sense.

It's just a colloquialism, am informal, friendly way of saying goodbye. Kind of like 'adieu' in French. Nothing to get upset about and significantly less irritating than the 'uh hmmmmmm' that seems to be creeping in as a replacement for 'you're welcome'.

Many many years ago we used to be visited (in the days of calling round to visit) by a family friend who used to say "see you later" as she was leaving.

One day I was so confused I said to my mum "is she coming back later on? It's already 9pm - I should be in bed!"

My mum described it as this lady's "modern ways"

See you earlier!

Come to brum op.

It's 'orite' or 'tarrarabit' or my very favourite 'tararbab'

'See you later' is basically 'goodbye' but entertains the idea that you might see them again (and that if you did, you would speak to them).
I don't think it's lazy.
Where I'm from, it gets shortened to "later", sometimes without the t so "la'er" which is possibly a tad lazy....

I don't know whether it's a regional thing? I'm from Devon, and relatives from 'up north' (Somerset ) seem to think it's a strange turn of phrase.

I once had a lovely chat with a woman at Paddington while we were waiting for our respective trains and, as we parted, I said, 'see you later!' And promptly realised that I probably wouldn't.

Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons says Smell You Later, how much would that irritate the op. I'd pay money to see that

I work in a shop, I don't say 'see you later' but a lot of our customers do. I've started to reply "ok I finish at 10 where are you taking me?" To the good looking young lads who come in.

I'm not sure why it is lazy to use more words to say goodbye in a nice way?

I suggest you need to unclench.

"Bye" is fine. It's plain English, which I think is perfectly friendly. It's the dressed-up phrases that I find can seem insincere. There seems to be a growing trend to see some normal speech as too abrupt, so now they have to be "softened" into something pointlessly florid.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Au revoir!

Perhaps when OP leaves, the shop assistant should say "thanks for your custom, but you're dead to me now."

It's cute! I always smile when someone says it... The electrician said it the other day, who we will probably never see again

Onlyicanclean10 - lol, I'm already here!!

Tarrabit is my favourite, or my Grandad's 'keep arht th'oss rowd'

Grumpy - I'd love that, especially is said in a mafioso accent

Me: bye DD
DD (4): Later babes

Yanbu

The correct way of saying it is

See you later alligator
To which you reply
In a while crocodile

later babes

She's a lege

Feel free to be irritated, I don't care. I will keep saying it figuratively, meaning (I live in a smallish town) 'As I am not planning to hide next time I see you approaching I expect I will see you again at some as yet unspecified time in the future'.
You can, however, choose to hide instead if you prefer, OP.

I say it a lot, no-one round here does. I thought it was a regional thing, but which region? I'm a Herts girl, mostly.
'later' is an unsecified time, somewhere between now-in-a-minute and eternity

They probably mean they'll see you again coming to the shop :)

'Would you like a bag with that today?' Today? Gahhhhh. Drives me nuts. No thankyou, i'll take my shopping with me balanced on my head today and return for a carrier bag next Tuesday, thanks all the same.