My second month into blogging I did a 3 part series on corporate terms your tired of hearing of. Perhaps because I had 10 readers tops, it didn’t get much traffic and that’s a damn shame given how often I bet many of you have heard these. Perhaps your guilty of these yourself! The original post had all of the below in a tiny, little graph, you had to squint to see. Well the words are bustin’ out of the graph! Ladies and gents, I present to you the corporate terms and their translations….
BLOWING YOU OFF (usually in meetings)
Corporate Term
- Circle back around with me.
Translation
- I would like to put your idea off because it’s stupid and I haven’t thought of a kind way to tell you.
Corporate Term
- Let’s table that.
- We’ll take this offline.
- Let’s put that in the parking lot.
Translation
- I don’t want to talk about that right now.
Corporate Term
- We are going to put that in our back pocket.
Translation
- I don’t want to tak about that right now because it’s dumb.
WAYS TO BE FIRED
Corporate Term
- Your position is being eliminated.
- We’re letting you go.
- You’re being terminated.
- We are going a different direction (this is my fav doosh term).
- We are transitioning you.
Translation
- You are fired and fucked.
Corporate Term
- You’re being laid off.
- Downsizing
Translation
- You are being fired but we like you as a person so we will give you some money (i.e. severance) so we don’t feel so guilty about it.
Corporate Term
- Shadowing (to have someone observe and learn your job)
Translation
- Hello! Meet your replacement!
Corporate Term
- Verbal Warning
Translation
- A way to cleanse your palate before the appetizer of a written warning and the main course of fired, are served.
Corporate Term
- 2 week notice
Translation
- The point in time you say fuck it to every job responsibility for the next 2 weeks while dreaming about your next corporate mistake.
Corporate Term
- Streamlining the organization
Translation
- People will be laid off while their work is now dumped on someone who gets to keep their job, do your old job and make an additional nickel an hour.
Review Time
Corporate Term
- Areas of opportunity
- Challenges
Translation
- What you suck at.
Corporate Term
- Constructive criticism
Translation
- A perfectly wrapped insult.
Corporate Term
- Coaching
Translation
- You did something wrong and I’m telling you how to fix it.
Corporate Term
- Coachable moment
- Coaching opportunity
Translation
- A time of my chosing to explain to you how you fucked up. This can also be the time your boss uses to show you that they know more and better than you.
Corporate Term
- Increase
Translation
- A staggering 1.7% increase amounting to an extra, shiny quarter.
Corporate Term
- Comps were down.
- We fell short of our goal.
- Operating costs increased significantly.
Translation
- You will not be getting a raise.
Corporate Term
- Hiring Freeze
Translation
- We will not hire any additional employees so that our employees can have some semblance of a family life.
I will post the other 2 posts in the coming week. What did you think? I’ve got a bunch more. Stick with me kid and we’ll make a doosh out of you yet! You’ll be wearing a blue tooth before you know it!
I have soooo many of these too! Looking forward to the next two!
Rachael | https://rachaelstray.com/
I figured it’s something everyone can relate to.Soooo dooshy. Sometimes, they don’t even make sense!
I know!
I’m debating on putting them out all within a week or staggering them. I don’t know.
Thank God I’ve never used these. I have been the recipient of many though- especially the ones conveying ‘You’re fired.’
LOL! I just hate when they try to soften the blow by saying things like, “we’re going in a different direction.” Don’t patronize me! At least show some respect and say what your doing and that’s firing me!
What’s worse, I had a company ‘let me go’ 2 days before I would have qualified for unemployment!
You have GOT to be kidding me! My favorite was when I was let go after 1.75 years. I was told I did nothing wrong. I’m just not a good fit. It took them almost 2 years to realize!
I’m not sure if that is better or worse than when I was fired after making a mistake that I would have learned about IF they had trained me! The company was so desperate for someone to fill the position, they didn’t ‘have time’ to train me properly, so after my 1st mistake, they fire me. I had to be escorted off the premises!
This is great! So many fantastic, cynical corporateisms… It’s like Dilbert! 😀
Thanks! I have 2 other posts I’m going to post sometime!
I look forward to them 🙂
Thank you!!
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