Business observations

Are you ever at home, after another day at the office, and have your spouse look at you and ask "what did you say!?" Chances are, you've reverted back to some business-speak from your place of employment. Which begs the question, why do we speak, act and do things differently at work?

After more years in business than I care to admit, here are a few observations of what goes on in the business world--thoughts that just make me go "hmm..."

- Those who are, by nature, talkative are also, more often than not, prone to being late to meetings.

- The person in the room who speaks the least is the one who most often is listened to most when he/she does speak.

- It didn't take long for "business casual" to be translated to attire which is weekend wear, at best.

- E-mail and text have bred poor writing skills.

- The most misused word in business is "compliment," when the right use is "complement."

- The worker who makes "errors of commission" is more often promoted/recognized than the worker who makes "errors of omission."

- There are phrases which I hear frequently in the business world which I either still don't understand...or understand why they're use. For example, "the long pole in the tent." Huh? Or, "sleeves off the vest." The last time I checked, a vest didn't have sleeves. What about, "we'll activate it in the October timeframe." Why don't you just say "we'll activate it in October." Then, there's the word "de-select." Or, "let's take it offline." Uh, we're having a conversation, thus we're really not online.

You get the idea...