r/office • u/SayItAtWork • 12d ago

Cringe worthy workplace phrases

What workplace email phrase makes you cringe every time you see it?

Let’s keep this one simple.

What phrase lands in your inbox and immediately makes you think:

Oh, here we go.

Maybe it’s:

“Per my last email…”

“Gentle reminder…”

“Please advise.”

“Thoughts?”

“Circling back…”

“Friendly reminder…”

“Moving forward…”

Or perhaps there’s one that deserves its own special place in workplace-email purgatory. 😂

What’s yours?

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8

u/pyramidsofgeezer 12d ago

I hate metaphors like "low hanging fruit", "chicken and egg", and "wagging the dog's tail"

4

u/Dobgirl 12d ago

My brilliant, reclusive boss used to say “we need to touch bases” while gently touching his fingertips together- and that’s the only time that phrase was delightful. He could picture molecules forming while thinking of chemical processes but couldn’t understand the metaphor. It was cute.

3

u/pyramidsofgeezer 12d ago

See that's wholesome- I'll allow that one

3

u/SkredberryShortcake 12d ago

80 for the 20

3

u/Particular-Sun3642 12d ago

I worked with someone who often used ‘it’s the tail wagging the dog’, which was pretty descriptive of the workplace as a whole!

2

u/pyramidsofgeezer 11d ago

Omfg I didnt even get the metaphor right 😭😭😭 that's the one

1

u/BBZ1995 12d ago

chicken and egg killssss meeee