“Drinking the Kool-Aid” and other Thorns in my Side

For many of us, there are certain words or phrases that we find truly annoying – I don’t mean anything explicit or controversial, but rather ordinary things that bother us more than they should. Sometimes it’s because these words have been really overused (“break the internet”), sometimes it’s because they trigger unpleasant memories (almost anything that makes us think about junior high), and sometimes we just don’t like the sound they make when running across our lips (“moist”).
 
These irritations don’t just occur in our personal lives, of course, but also exist in our professional lives as well. One phrase that bothers me is when managers say “drinking the Kool-Aid” when talking about new employees buying into the culture of the organization, because I’m sure they would never use it again if they knew what it actually meant and where it came from (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid). Slowly but surely, I promise you I’m going to stamp that one out.
 
I turned to a few fellow CHART members to find out what other words they would like to banish from the world of hospitality training/HR/recruiting, and their responses are below. 

• That’s just the way it is.  OR  It is what it is.
• That’s {just} the way we do it….That’s how we’ve always done it.
• I know what he’s/she’s thinking
• He’s just an Assistant Manager  OR  I’m just an Assistant Manager.
• “In my past life…” 
   
  – Nikki Fuchs de Calderon, Director of Learning & Development for Buffalo Wild Wings

•  “That’s the way we’ve always done it” when asked why they are doing something that easily could be done more efficiently.
   
  – Malik Hammond, Culinary Director for the Common Man Family 

• Busy (one of my GMs outlawed this word and it did wonders for ‘excuse reduction’)
• Low hanging fruit
• Millennials (as in ‘how to train millennials, how to retain millennials’ versus ‘how to train humans’…I’m over the label!)
• ‘culture fit’ – I think we rely on using this term for why we do or do not hire people, but we don’t put parameters around it.  It’s a cop out
   
  – Serah Morrissey, Complex Director of Human Resources for the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel 

• I hate it when people sign emails "best" - best is the worst.  It lacks the personal touch I think people in the hospitality business should possess and exercise.
• Boss - when people say the word boss I think of the 1980's. When people call me their boss, I feel like a failure not a leader.
   
  – Georgette Vlangos, Training Manager for Chopt Creative Salad Company 
   
• With regard to key words, none really stand out (but there are few annoying words used in the Family Dining segment. Pancakes, burgers, etc. are just plain cool and tasty. And no one really says the word “palate”.
   
  – Donna Herbel, Lead Director of Training & Development for Perkins & Marie Callender's
   
    
• Synergy
• Think outside the Box
• Value Add
• Out of Pocket
   
  These are ones that come to mind quickly – we also have a guy that uses “Living the dream” a lot – it’s not really a buzzword – but is annoying to me!
   
  – John Kelley, Vice President and Chief People Office of White Castle
   
   
• "But that's how we've always done it." (self-explanatory why that drives me crazy as a trainer)
• "In my previous life…"  (I've run into this a lot lately with our new restaurant openings as we've hired several people from the outside and they want to run things the way they ran them at their old company. The problem is, some things that work in one organization just don't work in another. It can be a struggle to immerse outside hires into our culture.)
   
  – Crystina Bukrinsky, Director of Training for Mexican Restaurants

• Buy In – I have an idea, I didn’t involve you because I didn’t value you enough to discuss it with you in the first place. I want you to embrace it as if you were on it from the very beginning.  And that would make me feel really good.
• Drinking the Kool-Aid - Blindly accepting something and following regardless of personal harm.  It’s an overused and bad analogy and when you think about the origin. 
• Move the needle – Cue fingers on a chalkboard.   
• Think outside the box – Forget the box, just think.  Or if you must refer to thinking that is different, let’s just use “think different”.  
• It is what it is -  Sure, you can accept the reality of today. Or you can work your butt off to make the reality of tomorrow better.

Those are just a few of the cringe worthy buzzwords. In general, buzzwords are annoying and lazy and often don’t truly say what you are trying to communicate. 

– Chad Klocke, Director of Training for Pizza Ranch 
 

• The term “on boarding” is one that wasn’t used until about 10 years ago and to me still sounds like someone is going on a cruise.  I wonder does terminating someone mean they are walking the plank? Or “off boarding”?  Why can’t we just say we are sharing our corporate culture with new employees, or call it an employee orientation? 
   
  – Carina Hirner, Manager of Human Resources for White Spot Restaurant 
   
• Many of our employees use the words "like" and "you guys" too frequently and often don't realize they are doing this. Many also use what I call half-words combined together to make a new word (tot-adorbs). Many times it's challenging for the "Baby Boomer" to keep up with the slang.
• We use a term called "GO-NOWS" that are first-cut Team Members that GO NOW when done with a bust shift as business subsides. I've never embraced this term & would like to see it GO AWAY NOW.
• Our beloved base of Seniors Guests really dislike (albeit despise) the term "guys" vs. "Maam or Sir" even... How are you "folks" plays better w/that crowd then, "How are you "guys"?
  Regardless, I feel that they are just trying to add some fun and excitement to our sometimes monotonous working environments. As long as it's not inappropriate for the Guest I feel it is a good idea to think outside the box and have fun with and include the Guest in the fun!
   
  – Mike Amos, Franchise Consultant for Perkins and Marie Callender’s

•  While it’s not exactly what you’re looking for, I’m going to offer some words that I love….genuine, authentic, collaborative, caring, supportive, thoughtful…I could go on and on.
   
  – Alie Gaffan, Vice President of People & Culture at Pacifica Hotel Company

Feel free to share the phrase you want added to the 'banished' list.