No questions asked

No questions asked

Reader question:

Please explain this message, with “no questions asked” in particular: “If you have it please return it no questions asked.”

My comments:

What’s “it”?

Well, whatever “it” is, it’s something you probably shouldn’t have and keep.

That’s what we can more or less safely infer.

So please return it. Case closed.

That’s what “no questions asked” means. It signifies that they will drop the case without further investigating why or how you have it in your possession.

In other words, you won’t have to explain how and why you have it in your possession to begin with.

“No questions asked”, you see, means, literally, no questions asked. In other words, that’s the end of it. There’s no need to ask any more questions. Hence, no explanations necessary.

This phrase is often used by vendors. For example, a shoe shop may guarantee an unconditional 7-day return period. If you buy a pair of shoes in the shop and are dissatisfied with the shoes, you can return them to the shop and get your money back, no questions asked.

That is, you don’t have to explain what you think is wrong with the shoes, whether they’re too big or too small or why you’ve changed your mind or anything like that.

Instead, the shop assistant will just give you your money back and let you go.

Needless to say, this “no questions asked” policy suggests a considerable level of trust between shop and customer, an unquestioning acceptance.

If all shops had this no-questions-asked policy, I’m thinking, then customer satisfactory rate would skyrocket, even, possibly, reaching 100 percent.

That’s asking too much, I know.

But you get the idea.

Now, let’s read a few media examples of “no questions asked” in different contexts:

1. Will the Joe Biden administration follow this advice?

Florida’s senior Senator is equating demonstrations against Israel on college campuses with support of the terror group Hamas.

And to that end, U.S. Marco Rubio urges the Joe Biden administration to rescind visas for “international students” who demonstrate “pro-terrorist views” with the war in Gaza as a backdrop.

“What cannot be tolerated, however, is for international students to violate the terms of their visa, and, especially, U.S. law,” Rubio said.

In a letter to U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the third-term Republican itemizes his frustrations in making the extraordinary call.

“Since the horrific October 7, 2023 terrorist attack against Israel, a wave of antisemitism and pro-Hamas protests has swept America’s elite universities from coast to coast. Students and professional protesters have occupied and desecrated university buildings, trashed campus grounds with public encampments, injured innocent bystanders, and targeted Jewish students with threatening and antisemitic rhetoric,” Rubio charged.

“Such lawless behavior has appropriately resulted in arrests. For those international students who defied university orders, and police instruction, in favor of acting on pro-terrorist views, this should result in immediate expulsion from their host institution and our generous country. No questions asked.”

Rubio reminded the Secretaries that it is “imperative that both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of State are communicating and enforcing the laws of our land.”

“Let me be clear: espousing support for a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization is grounds for the termination of a visa and immediate removal from our country. As pro-terrorist protesters continue to be arrested, I urge you to ensure those who are in our country on visas are placed into expedited deportation proceedings.”

- Marco Rubio wants to revoke visas from ‘pro-Hamas’ protesters, FloridaPolitics.com, May 9, 2024.

2. You could make the case for Allen Iverson being one of the greatest players to never win a championship ring. The Philadelphia 76ers icon had a decorated career, but the one thing missing from his elite resume is an NBA title.

According to Iverson himself, there’s one person to blame for his lack of success at the championship level.

Iverson recently took to Instagram to “call out” Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal for being the primary reason why AI does not own a championship ring. With his statement, Iverson was actually heaping praise on the Los Angeles Lakers icon, naming Shaq as the GOAT big man:

“The only reason I don’t have a ring lol #GreatestBigManEVER,” Iverson commented.

O’Neal caught wind of Iverson’s high praise, and he too had to give AI his flowers:

“U don’t need one you one of the greatest and a hall of fame first ballot no questions asked,” Shaq responded.

- NBA News: Shaq Reacts to Allen Iverson Blaming Him for Not Winning a Ring, WiSportsHeroics.com, August 3, 2023.

3. A community in Hull is breaking down barriers with its promise to provide food in a crisis without needing any “proof” from a doctor or social worker.

St Philip’s Food Community in Amethyst Road, Bilton Grange, has been operating since the lockdown in 2020. It’s run by General Manager Kia Macpherson, who is also the wife of the vicar at St Philip’s, Reverend Aian Macpherson.

Kia predicts the cost of living crisis will only get worse and says many people in Marfleet Ward – one of Hull’s poorest constituencies – are living on a shoestring budget so it takes just one crisis to tip them into food poverty.

She said: “We have a standard policy that everyone’s first visit is free. Then four times a year they can claim from the pantry without any donation at all, no questions asked.

“It’s for the really rough weeks, for families who have had to reapply for Universal Credit, or maybe they have been made newly redundant and have to live off fresh air in the meantime.

“It’s for the weeks where the freezer breaks and the kids need new shoes and it all happens at once. Or Mum goes into hospital and suddenly you need to find money for bus fares to get in and out of the hospital. It’s things like that where crisis interrupts normal cash flow.”

- The ‘no questions asked’ food bank in one of Hull’s most deprived wards, HullDaily.co.uk, October 14, 2024.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）