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

October 05, 2016 | 3402 Views

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

Patrick Yearout, FMP, CHT

Director of Innovation, Recruiting, and Training | Ivar's & Kidd Valley Restaurants

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

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 
 

 

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

CHART Community Discussion

Leave a comment




Allowed tags: <b><i><br>Add a new comment:



Comments (1)

  1. Curt Archambault:
    Oct 07, 2016 at 01:18 PM

    Hey you didn't ask me! I am pretty much irritated by anything but here is my most annoying statement....

    "At the End of the Day"...grrrrr

    You can't use that statement unless you are actually talking about the end of the day...

    Oh...one more "Synergies" when used during a merger or acquisition...say what you mean...people are going to get let go...quit sugar coating things...people are smart and they can handle it.

    Curt