Things that annoy you - the official thread

[JNR]

People saying less than four, when it should be fewer than four (or whatever quantity).

When they say "less" instead of "fewer", do you find the meaning ambiguous? Are you Kit Marlowe? If not, shut the strawberry float up about it.

I know what they mean but I think fewer of them for it.

[Zaichik]

Sorry. I'll "shop" my tins in the cupboard from now on.

I hate the way every container for food or drink has become a "pack" in the language of the manufacturers - packets, bags, cans, bottles.

Worse still is when a trainer at a corporate training event hands you some papers stapled together and refers to them constantly as "your pack". It's a strawberry floating handout, you nob-brain!

[mrspax]

Sorry. I'll "shop" my tins in the cupboard from now on.

I hate the way every container for food or drink has become a "pack" in the language of the manufacturers - packets, bags, cans, bottles.

Worse still is when a trainer at a corporate training event hands you some papers stapled together and refers to them constantly as "your pack". It's a strawberry floating handout, you nob-brain!

This is small beans compared to when a cretinous business speak drone refers to a powerpoint presentation as 'the deck'.

[Rax]

Sorry. I'll "shop" my tins in the cupboard from now on.

I hate the way every container for food or drink has become a "pack" in the language of the manufacturers - packets, bags, cans, bottles.

Worse still is when a trainer at a corporate training event hands you some papers stapled together and refers to them constantly as "your pack". It's a strawberry floating handout, you nob-brain!

This is small beans compared to when a cretinous business speak drone refers to a powerpoint presentation as 'the deck'.

The deck? Really? Never heard that one before.

[Poser]

I've heard deck a lot. Had a client in my last job who mentioned it at least once in every concall we had with him.

Edit: I've just realised 'concall' is also pretty strawberry floating annoying. Sorry.

[False]

Death by powerpoint is my favourite.

Its still death by powerpoint even if you ironically acknowledge it.

[mrspax]

Death by powerpoint is my favourite.

Its still death by powerpoint even if you ironically acknowledge it.

In that you think the phrase 'death by powerpoint' is gooseberry fool? Or you think being subjected to 'death by powerpoint' is gooseberry fool.

As someone who makes it his career goal to irradicate the rather large American conglomerate that I work for from the genuine business disease that is 'death by powerpoint', I quite like the phrase. It is just passive aggressive enough to demonstrate how much of a waste of time it was for the poor sod who spent ages making pixels line up and deleting those headers with the details from the last presentation rather than just showing us the data/report straight from the system/tool/analysis they did.

Which leads me to another thing.... I don't get why it has to look pretty in an internal meeting.

[Victor Mildew]

I heard a new one the other day, ideation.

Ideation.

IDEATION.

[mrspax]

I heard a new one the other day, ideation.

Ideation.

IDEATION.

I honestly thought this one originated from my company....

I wasn't the most professional when I audibly sniggered at the yank who asked us about it in an open forum when I was visiting our HQ last year. I think they all were quietly thinking 'I thought the British were polite and reserved'. They didn't know about my German blood.

[Fatal Exception]

I've heard that word thrown around too.

[Imrahil]

I think we could probably make a thread all by itself listing the almost endless crap in corporate office environments. The whole time spent there from the moment you walk in to the moment you desperately leave at night is like stepping into an alternate dimension where you have to become a douche to fit in with the other douches.

Small office setups can probably escape the annoyances a bit and offer a better experience I guess. Until the company expands and middle managers start trying to 'optimize human capital' & bring in weekly change control meetings to make themselves look busy.

[mrspax]

I think we could probably make a thread all by itself listing the almost endless crap in corporate office environments. The whole time spent there from the moment you walk in to the moment you desperately leave at night is like stepping into an alternate dimension where you have to become a douche to fit in with the other douches.

Small office setups can probably escape the annoyances a bit and offer a better experience I guess. Until the company expands and middle managers start trying to 'optimize human capital' & bring in weekly change control meetings to make themselves look busy.

Let us close the loop on this discussion by reaching out to as many forumites as possible and encouraging them to list all the wanky business speak phrases there are in existence.

If we don't achieve our goal, we can set up a workout to overcome the difficult challenges on our journey.

[Stugene]

I think we could probably make a thread all by itself listing the almost endless crap in corporate office environments. The whole time spent there from the moment you walk in to the moment you desperately leave at night is like stepping into an alternate dimension where you have to become a douche to fit in with the other douches.

Small office setups can probably escape the annoyances a bit and offer a better experience I guess. Until the company expands and middle managers start trying to 'optimize human capital' & bring in weekly change control meetings to make themselves look busy.

Going forward, we should engage with this.

[JV]

In all fairness, ideation is a 'thing' and is a crucial part of a typical design process - but corporates and business consultant types do like to band it around so it becomes meaningless.

[Blue Eyes]

Blue sky thinking has got to be one of the very worst middle managementy banana split things I've heard said. I'm not even sure what it means.

[KK]

Sounds like you need to start thinking outside of the box!

[mrspax]

Blue sky thinking has got to be one of the very worst middle managementy banana split things I've heard said. I'm not even sure what it means.

If you think outside the box, you'll understand.

(In case it wasn't obvious, it means the same BS thing)

[mrspax]

Sounds like you need to start thinking outside of the box!

ZING!

[Imrahil]

Also, saying 'lets explore another paradigm' when they just mean 'I have another idea'.

[Victor Mildew]

Let's just get together for a sanity check.