No More Problems Or Quitting
Flowery euphemisms are not my style. I prefer to say what I mean using plain English. I find that this increases the chances that people will understand me and will save time, both theirs and mine.
For this reason, I dislike corporate speech. It makes my skin crawl to hear of "challenges" and never "problems." Problem has become a dirty word. But just what is wrong with the word "problem?" Just because something is called a problem doesn't mean that it has no solution. It just means that it's an issue. Using the euphemism "challenge", doesn't change the facts. All it does is irritate me that I'm not supposed to use the word "problem."
The latest perfectly good word we have been deprived or is "quit." The correct term is now "opportunity for change." For example, a manager was recently telling me about a couple of nurses who had an opportunity for change. I asked if that meant they quit, but the manager said that we don't use the term quit. It seems to be that an opportunity for change could also apply to being fired. I can imagine someone losing their job, going home in tears and telling their family that they got an opportunity for change. To me, that sounds silly.
Do you have any perfectly good words that have been banned from your workplace?
Written by Melissa on 12:41 PM
Me
Melissa blogging from sunny Santa Clarita, Southern California, United States.
Friends
8 Comments:
Shortly after high school, I worked as a test technician on an assembly line in Chatsworth doing the final adjustment and testing on hard drives, back when the disk platters were twelve inches across. We had a particularly "challenging" batch of drives, that we all referred to as turkeys. We got a memo from management instructing us not to call the machines turkeys. It was soon after that I found an "opportunity for change" and they never saw me again. :)
At my last job, instead of taking responsibility for completing a task, you would take "ownership" of a task.
We actually create, log and track "problem" reports in our biz. That's really the word we use! We don't use the term "turkeys", we just call them "dog units".
"Incidents" is a safe term used by my boss...Michelle, make sure you record any "Incidents".
What a crock!
A former principal at my school changed the name of subsitute teacher to "guest" teacher and insisted that they be introduced that way to the students and parents. New principal now and back to subs.
Dave, as long as you weren't telling customers about the turkeys, I don't know why management would care. Instead of complaining about the name, maybe they should have fixed them so that they weren't turkeys.
Connie, I sometimes hear that phrase at work also. It sounds like Dr. Phil psycho-babble to me. I refuse to "own" something unless we're talking about property.
Alan, I like the name dog units. That does mean they're sweet, lovable and perfect units, doesn't it?
Michelle, we have "unusual occurrences", but not incidents. Incidents sounds judgmental. We can't have that now, can we?
Lisa, yeah, I get impatient waiting for someone to get to the point. I tend to start guessing what the other person is trying to say which can be irritating to people who like to talk endlessly.
Irene, at least you're back to being able to use whatever words you like. Unless language is offensive, we should be free to use whatever words we like.
we can't use the word 'bum' at work... we have to say 'bottom'... I didn't know that 'bum' was a bad word. but the stupid thing is that I have heard some 'grown-ups' ask a child if they are stupid??!! that is way worse if you ask me... 'Please sit on your bum' or 'Are you stupid or what?'...
Euphemisms like that are just annoying. It's like talking in a a circle around the issue instead of discussing it head on.
"Opportunity for change" - egaads.
Post a Comment
<< Home