Irritating & grating phrases and words used in the work place

124

Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,568
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    I do often find the euphemisms for pay odd.

    "Compensation" or "remuneration". I mean, grammatically they're correct, but what everyone means is "pay".

    "What's your compensation at the moment" as opposed to "how much were you paid last year?"


    People react differently to those two questions.

    IME compensation and remuneration seem to be expanded to include non-cash rewards? Usually accompanied by "package" - remuneration package etc.. Whereas pay is usually just cash, no?

    Probably an element of BS too.

    Mainly BS, but yes.

    Let me put it this way. On the rare occasion I've said "how much were you paid?" there's a bit of shock on the other side of the table. Not so when i've asked for their compensation.

    It's all smoke & mirrors.
    _
  • mr_goo
    mr_goo Posts: 3,770
    I had to berate Mrs Goo this afternoon for using a very irritating phrase and out of work too.
    " Can I borrow you for a minute "

    Shame on her.
    Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,728
    Mr Goo wrote:
    I had to berate Mrs Goo this afternoon for using a very irritating phrase and out of work too.
    " Can I borrow you for a minute "

    Shame on her.
    Just a minute?
    Shame on you. :lol::lol::lol:
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Garry H
    Garry H Posts: 6,639
    "Wake up Garry!" Is the one phrase that i hate.
  • bbrap
    bbrap Posts: 610
    "The elephant in the room", nope, never seen one, unless they meant the fat mare in the corner eating all the biscuits. Thank fuck I left that all behind when I retired, 36 years was plenty enough corporate bullshit.
    Rose Xeon CDX 3100, Ultegra Di2 disc (nice weather)
    Ribble Gran Fondo, Campagnolo Centaur (winter bike)
    Van Raam 'O' Pair
    Land Rover (really nasty weather :lol: )
  • pilot_pete
    pilot_pete Posts: 2,120
    I'm another hater of the incorrect inflection at the end of a sentence. The only thing I hate more is when they do it at the end of every sentence... :twisted: And it appears to be from US teen culture, but has been picked up by older generations. There was a news reporter in her mid thirties doing it on the telly the other night, my God woman, get a grip! :cry: :shock: Have these people never listened to themselves? And if they do, do they not find that they sound a bit strange?

    One of my kids started doing it, so I just talked back to him in the same way to show him how stupid it made him sound. He soon stopped. :wink:

    As an aside I am a remote worker, but we get oodles of head office electronic communications telling us how great everything is. One such missive (which I have now stopped even opening as I don't understand most of the sh1te they are spouting) was a regular floor plate briefing by senior management. It was usually accompanied by a picture of two or three managers, standing half way up an open plan office staircase talking down to the gathered hoards of staff stood all around the desks. WTF (sorry) is a floor plate?

    PP
  • solosuperia
    solosuperia Posts: 333
    I give you just one word...........
    ABSOLUTELY
  • trivial_poursuivant
    trivial_poursuivant Posts: 1,136
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Should have made better acronyms then ;).

    Should try working in a military environment. The amount of acronyms will make your head explode.

    It's one thing using acronyms when you know what they are but then you get the same ones that mean multiple things. Aargh. I can think of 5 things that ATM means. Some work related some not.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,568
    In fairness, I have a habit of making up my own acronyms that no one else uses.
    _
  • trivial_poursuivant
    trivial_poursuivant Posts: 1,136
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    In fairness, I have a habit of making up my own acronyms that no one else uses.

    Sounds like a symptom of asbergers.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,568
    Trivial poursuivant wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    In fairness, I have a habit of making up my own acronyms that no one else uses.

    Sounds like a symptom of asbergers.

    Fairly unlikely I suspect....
    _
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    Trivial poursuivant wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Should have made better acronyms then ;).

    Should try working in a military environment. The amount of acronyms will make your head explode.

    It's one thing using acronyms when you know what they are but then you get the same ones that mean multiple things. Aargh. I can think of 5 things that ATM means. Some work related some not.

    And some very much NSFW.
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Trivial poursuivant wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Should have made better acronyms then ;).

    Should try working in a military environment. The amount of acronyms will make your head explode.

    It's one thing using acronyms when you know what they are but then you get the same ones that mean multiple things. Aargh. I can think of 5 things that ATM means. Some work related some not.



    This times a billion.

    it's all utter gobbledegook, especially when it's individual cap badge related and you're trying to explain something/have something explained to you by someone who is from a different cap badge. I tend to glaze over a lot.

    And then I get home, TDV asks me something, I reply in gobbledegook as it's what I've been talking all day and she kicks me in the testicles and tells me to stop talking rubbish and use real words.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Anything uttered by members of staff at RBS.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,568
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Anything uttered by members of staff at RBS.

    You know it's pretty easy to change banks right?

    https://www.currentaccountswitch.co.uk/Pages/Home.aspx
    _
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Anything uttered by members of staff at RBS.

    You know it's pretty easy to change banks right?

    https://www.currentaccountswitch.co.uk/Pages/Home.aspx

    That's the guide for poor people I believe.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • trivial_poursuivant
    trivial_poursuivant Posts: 1,136
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Anything uttered by members of staff at RBS.

    RBS, TSB, HSBC

    More f@cking acronyms. Baah!!
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Trivial poursuivant wrote:
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Anything uttered by members of staff at RBS.

    RBS, TSB, HSBC

    More f@cking acronyms. Baah!!

    GPMG the lot ......
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,728
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Trivial poursuivant wrote:
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Anything uttered by members of staff at RBS.

    RBS, TSB, HSBC

    More f@cking acronyms. Baah!!

    GPMG the lot ......
    KPMG eventually.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • trivial_poursuivant
    trivial_poursuivant Posts: 1,136
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Trivial poursuivant wrote:
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Anything uttered by members of staff at RBS.

    RBS, TSB, HSBC

    More f@cking acronyms. Baah!!

    GPMG the lot ......

    GPMG, LSW, LMG, AGL the whole lot.

    Or just hit them with a GBU-12 LD LGB
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,622
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    In fairness, I have a habit of making up my own acronyms that no one else uses.
    I used to work with a bloke like that. You'd have conversations along the lines of:

    Bloke, "WTDWOW."
    Poor sod, "Eh?
    Bloke, "WTDWOW?" [ grins smugly ]
    Poor sod, "What does that mean?"
    Bloke, "Well that didn't work out well".
    Poor sod, "Oh."

    After about the tenth time the joke wears off. Do we know each other Rick?
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,568
    First Aspect wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    In fairness, I have a habit of making up my own acronyms that no one else uses.
    I used to work with a bloke like that. You'd have conversations along the lines of:

    Bloke, "WTDWOW."
    Poor sod, "Eh?
    Bloke, "WTDWOW?" [ grins smugly ]
    Poor sod, "What does that mean?"
    Bloke, "Well that didn't work out well".
    Poor sod, "Oh."

    After about the tenth time the joke wears off. Do we know each other Rick?

    Probably.

    Short, bald, angry?
    _
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Rick Chasey wrote:



    Short, bald, angry?

    Never really pictured you like that Rck, but at least you're honest.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,568
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:



    Short, bald, angry?

    Never really pictured you like that Rck, but at least you're honest.

    There are enough people on here who have met me who will confirm that.
    _
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:



    Short, bald, angry?

    Never really pictured you like that Rck, but at least you're honest.

    There are enough people on here who have met me who will confirm that.


    What - short, bald, angry?

    Oh, don't be angry. It's ugly.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,622
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    First Aspect wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    In fairness, I have a habit of making up my own acronyms that no one else uses.
    I used to work with a bloke like that. You'd have conversations along the lines of:

    Bloke, "WTDWOW."
    Poor sod, "Eh?
    Bloke, "WTDWOW?" [ grins smugly ]
    Poor sod, "What does that mean?"
    Bloke, "Well that didn't work out well".
    Poor sod, "Oh."

    After about the tenth time the joke wears off. Do we know each other Rick?

    Probably.

    Short, bald, angry?
    Tall (so tall difficult to tell whether bald) and lanky in a going to seed sort of way. Probably not you then.
  • itshowfarʔ
    itshowfarʔ Posts: 14
    We have a yellow/red card system. Any such bulls*"t gets a card shown. 'Golden thread' or 'we are where we are' are straight reds and a round of coffee for everyone.
  • crispybug2
    crispybug2 Posts: 2,915
    "Ah you're back, how was your holiday?"


    That's the phrase that is getting right on my tits at work at the moment!
  • oblongomaculatus
    oblongomaculatus Posts: 616
    My all time favourite is of course, "going forward", as many others have mentioned. What's wrong with "in future" or "from now on"? I'm currently lucky enough work for a company where stuff like this is almost absent, so a couple of years ago, when someone used that phrase in an email, I objected to it. She apologised! Sincerely, I think. In any event, it hasn't resurfaced since.

    At a previous place of work, where such phrases were very common (I remember having to ask what "stet" meant, not having come across it previously), there was one Management drone (Director Of Very Important Things, I think her title was) who had a penchant for addressing large numbers of employees about the business plan. I think it was mainly to reassure us that there was a plan. Anyway, the thing is, she was absolutely hopeless at public speaking, having developed this verbal tic which meant she added the words "know what I mean?" to the end of almost every sentence. People used to keep score. I remember sitting at the back of one such meeting, watching every few seconds about 50 of her victims, in unison, making tick marks on little pieces of paper.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    /\ My boss says "ultimately" all the time. So he'll be talk about some stuff and then he'll say "but ultimately it's about x" - and then go on to talk about some more things! It's OK to use sometimes (i.e., at the end of a discussion or when you want to highlight something) but peppering your conversations with it makes it lose its' impact somewhat.

    I must admit to using moving forwards though. When I use it I don't mean quite the same thing as "from now on" and "in future" though - that means something specific and it's going to be different from now on; a clean break. However "moving" forwards" I would use in that we want to try and change something or work towards a different outcome or something, so "moving forwards we're going to work on improving the way we do X".

    I think anything's annoying if overused, so perhaps it's the way people say it all the time.

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