My old man yelling at clouds: no more teammates or guests
Posted by js4873@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 103 comments
My co workers are not a team. We are not playing. We are working. Also I’m not a guest at this CVS. I’m just buying some ant-acids FFS.
Obvs with the latter I don’t begrudge the workers being forced to spout these corporate niceties. I blame the corporations.
But this is surely my Most grumpy middle aged take. I whisper to my wife as we walk out “I’m not a guest!”
Important_silence@reddit
I don’t mind referring to coworkers as a team. It’s the “We are family” bullshit that pisses me off
GeetarEnthusiast85@reddit
For real. I worked at a place that really promoted the whole "we are family" bit and then laid off over a thousand employees during the pandemic.
I didn't know people got laid off from their families. I wonder what type of severance package I'd be looking at if I got laid off from my real family. Have to ask my dad about that.
GlomBastic@reddit
Referring to workers as family is like telling a hooker "I love you"
Important_silence@reddit
I think the John saying “I love you” to the hooker is more genuine than companies referring to their employees as “family” 😂
charcarod0n@reddit
If we’re re a family bring on the dysfunction, backstabbing, passive aggressive behavior, long held secrets, repressed anger, trauma and name calling. Cmon let’s go. Let’s get it out already.
WhatTheCluck802@reddit
Yes this. We are a team working together to accomplish our joint mission. But absolutely not a family, that title is reserved for actual and chosen family in our personal lives.
Important_silence@reddit
💯
Solintari@reddit
We are a family and we can do this together with a shared vision!
(Two months later) We had to make very difficult decisions today and 50 of you will no longer have a job next week.
“Hey, uh are you executives going to take a pay cut so we don’t have to reduce headcount or maybe lower guidance to shareholders temporarily so we can invest in our family instead of strangers with no interest in the business outside of just making money from our labor?”
Thank you for your feedback and in light of this new perspective, 51 of you will be out of work now. Thanks fam.
Important_silence@reddit
Thanks fam 😂😂😂
sundayfunday78@reddit
I work in a family owned business, two retail locations and been in operation for 40 yrs. There are multiple generations of the owners family, the head cashiers’ family, 4 members of another family…we really do feel like a family, dysfunctional of course lol.
Throw-away17465@reddit
I worked in a place like that. 75 years, 48 people, half were related to each other by blood or marriage. We joked that the only way to get promoted was to NOT be related to the boss/anti-nepotism.
That was 6 years ago and I’m still in the group chat and go to their events.
kb_klash@reddit
Yeah that shit is a major red flag.
Wild-Ad-2721@reddit
Yes and yes
bakedveldtland@reddit
For real. Then they try to pressure you to spend time with them outside of work. Nahhhh. Not that I won’t hang out with coworkers, I have met some of my best friends at work. But don’t act weird about it.
whereilaymyheadishom@reddit
I was a server at a chain restaurant in my 20s and I get the “guest” thing. It’s not about them. It’s about a mindset about how folks should be treated when they engage with your business. It doesn’t matter what the business is. When I started at that restaurant, I thought it was corporate speak. And maybe it is. But it stuck with me and I think it has made me better at customer service all throughout my later years.
js4873@reddit (OP)
I don’t mind being called a guest at a sit down restaurant actually. I guess I meant more at a CVS or something.
skywalkerRCP@reddit
I hate that shit so much. In healthcare they want us to look at patient as customers. Fuck off. They're not here because they want to be here. They're sick.
Also I hate getting the "team" email. And "hope this finds you well". Corpo bullshit.
psilosophist@reddit
I'm gonna put on my Reddit pedant hat for a moment and remind you that you are technically a guest when you go to CVS- it's private property and you're there by implied permission (which is why they can also refuse service/kick you out, and tell you you're not welcome anymore). You're a guest if you walk in and don't buy anything and leave, and a customer if you make a purchase.
It's dumb corpo speak intended to humanize the corporation, but linguistically it's correct.
js4873@reddit (OP)
Haha! That is indeed pedantic. I don’t doubt you. But it always feels to me like it’s corporate overlords forcing workers to be subservient
Horror_Garbage_9888@reddit
“Welcome to Costco. I love you.”
omnes1lere@reddit
I love Costco Fahrenheit. (Youtube it, the one with the cat.)
HorseWorking@reddit
“Welcome to Moe’s”
che_vos@reddit
I'm hungry for a burrito.
bLymey4@reddit
They tell me they love me by giving me samples….thats ❤️
Complete_Entry@reddit
They actually don't let them say that.
svv1tch@reddit
The only correct response.
atomsk404@reddit
Nah that's "self checkout"
literanch@reddit
Baggers are so untrained and illogical that I always bag my own groceries — self check out or not.
koei19@reddit
Fun fact: in Korean the word for customer is literally the same word as "guest." 손님, or son-nim
js4873@reddit (OP)
That’s a cool fact!
sicariobrothers@reddit
Linguistically is it ok to say Hi corporation I’m your shareholder income meatbag
murph0969@reddit
I love you
BarleyBo@reddit
Tell me more about these ant acids.
js4873@reddit (OP)
I’ve got ant acid. Ant Joanie. Ant Trudy,,,,
Turk_Sanderson@reddit
Nothing chaps my ass more than Jim Nantz saying at the start of broadcast
HELLO FRIENDS!
Jim
We are not friends
We will never be friends
literanch@reddit
My dad always hated Jim Nantz for all the dumb and/or flowery shit he would say
bakedveldtland@reddit
And every request ends in “I appreciate you!”
So phony
m0h3k4n@reddit
If I’m a guest and you don’t offer me a beverage then you are a rude host.
PeterPalafox@reddit
What about very old friends?
tgerz@reddit
A team is just a group of people working together. Your coworkers are literally the other people on your team. I agree with all the others. If someone says they’re your work family, fuckin run.
jtho78@reddit
Team isn't exclusive to sports and has existed long before it was used in organized sports. A team is a group working together to a final goal. Your work might be an outlier if you are siloed or don't collaberate, but in most situations multiple work together as a team
js4873@reddit (OP)
Look I just don’t like it.
jtho78@reddit
Sounds like its your coworkers you don't like.
js4873@reddit (OP)
That’s the thing I actually do like them! I just don’t like corporate speak. “Circle back and check the temperature to see the 30,000 foot view. Then put a pin in that, because of bandwidth. Focus on core strengths”.
Important_silence@reddit
We must DIVE IN before we can circle back!
jtho78@reddit
Yeah, we all hate corporate speak. Team isn't one of them.
Now, when they call use family, thats some bullshit because they'll make us work sick or lay us off to save a penny without thinking twice.
Complete_Entry@reddit
No one can exploit you as hard as your family!
js4873@reddit (OP)
Oh 100000% agreed with that.
inko75@reddit
I mean, using the term team for a retail space or the like is kinda demeaning, but, I feel like it’s fine for small working groups within groups. Or I just have been so indoctrinated to the term I am part of the problem :(
Mind-of-Jaxon@reddit
I get not liking the corporate speak. It rings hollow and just service. But it’s corporate America today. But it could be worse. They could not try at all. And treating people like liabilities and leaches. I’ve had managers like that. Hated his job hated his employees hated being a manager and let everyone know.
Also I had I manager that was very much “ let’s go team. We are all working together .”
And whenever something that popped up that he wasn’t ready for in a meeting, like things that weren’t on the agenda, or he planned for, it was “okay let’s put a pin in that and we’ll circle back.” We never circled back and after wards or was never the time or place.
Corporations use specific wording to divert and shift focus an protect themselves.
XennialDad@reddit
*teammates
Ok_Percentage5157@reddit
😆
JayVig@reddit
Fine but in your post you said you're not a team because you're not playing. You're the one that used grammar and definitions, not preference.
dcgrey@reddit
I don't mind it when it's genuinely a group of people working on something shared and concrete. I start to get a little "ehhh" when it's describing a group that a boss thinks belongs to them. I absolutely hate it when it shows up in a job description, for the reasons you talk about...to "join our team" -- I don't want to join a team, I want to get paid and if it involves working with a group, fine -- or wanting "a team player", which is just code for someone who will keep their mouth shut when their boss grinds everyone down.
js4873@reddit (OP)
Thank you that is EXACTLY what I mean!
inko75@reddit
Let the cranky flow bro, we gotchu
js4873@reddit (OP)
🙏 🙏
PuppyJakeKhakiCollar@reddit
Better "team" than "family". Though one could argue that "family" is a more accurate description because like many families, there are the favorites and the scapegoats and the pot-stirrers and the ass-kissers.
Zsirhcz1981@reddit
Quit having an app for everything is mine… my washer and dryer don’t need to be computers with an app.
Bring back buttons, dials, and knobs.
js4873@reddit (OP)
Also this! I don’t need a password to turn on my tv ffs!!!!!
PuppyJakeKhakiCollar@reddit
Hell no. Isn't the point of technology to make things easier? How is it easier to have to remember and input an entire password versus just pressing a button?
Zsirhcz1981@reddit
Yeah… and god forbid I forget a password…
TermusMcFlermus@reddit
I filled out a survey for a Price Chopper I frequent recently. It asked me if I was greeted by all associates I encountered or something like that. I forget how it was worded. At any rate, it would be damn near unbearable if all 12 associates greeted me and I had to respond with measured kindness. I'm good with one or two. The people I see at a checkout or pharmacy or whatever. That I can stomach. 😁
PuppyJakeKhakiCollar@reddit
I hate walking into a store and being bombarded by associates. It's just too overwhelming. Most people just want to be left alone to shop and will ask for help if they need it. One or two, fine but if you are being surrounded like a zebra who ventures into lions' territory the minute you walk through the door, it's very off-putting.
JayVig@reddit
Oxford dictionary literally says you are a team. YOU may think it only applies to sports and games but that's just incorrect.
sicariobrothers@reddit
Don’t tell me you understand my concern either. I need you to understand the solution to my concern.
js4873@reddit (OP)
I heard that in Denzel’s voice somehow. 😂
Lessa22@reddit
I’m with you on Guest but Team is, at least to me, inoffensive. My quibble with team is when it gets used by upper levels of management that have little to nothing to do with my job or responsibilities. It’s like, you have a six figure salary and only work from 10-3 from home, I unload pallets and ring out customers, we are not on the same team.
curmudgeonchief@reddit
I don't mind "team" because I think we are just that - we have a common objective and each have a role to play to achieve it, and ideally work together to get it done well.
But if you ever tell me "we're all a family" at my workplace I actually will speak up, though not before vomiting in my mouth a little.
I expect that as colleagues we treat each other with professional respect and courtesy, and that begins with acknowledging the limits and boundaries of a relationship where the foundation of it is nothing more than having a common entity pay us for our labour. We definitely don't just have to be robot workers, we can be compassionate and caring towards each other and sensitive to our shared humanity. But the bonds of affinity or duties of care toward one another look like those between you and the dude you serve twice a week when he comes in for lunch (slash the person who serves you at the place you go for lunch twice a week), and not like those bewteen you and sibling or stepkid or great aunt.
My co-workers are not family. I will not sacrifice my personal desires or plans or goals for people I work with or work for, and I don't expect them to do that for me. Because they're colleagues, and that's not how workplaces work.
TheDevil-YouKnow@reddit
I use the term team when talking to my employees. I tell them specifically that I don't go for the we're a family thing, because a lot of it's just nonsense. But I do tell them that we see each other a lot more than some of us get to spend with our own actual families, and that we will work as a team to provide a successful, cohesive work experience.
This reduces stress, and makes work something we don't dread, but something we show up to gladly so we can provide for ourselves, and our actual families.
And I actually mean that shit. We may not always get along, but we're gonna fucking function as a team with the aimed goal of keeping corporate out of our fucking noses.
vinciblechunk@reddit
"All of our associates are busy assisting other callers."
Employees. All your employees. Would it kill you to say "employee?" (Yes, it would. Ideological opposition to creating any kind of expectation that you can organize)
Wild-Ad-2721@reddit
When I’m working with others towards a shared goal I call us a team. I think that is appropriate in business.
jacksonmills@reddit
To be honest "teammates" has been a thing since well before we were born.
People in factories and other menial jobs were considered "teammates"; that's basically where the word "teamster" comes from, which is one of the largest group of unions in the US.
dudemanspecial@reddit
Nobody called coworkers or employees teammates prior to the 21st century.
And you are wrong about "teamsters" name origin.
DeciusAemilius@reddit
Teamster actually comes from wagon drivers who drove teams of horses (if you were hauling beer in 1900 you’d be driving 4 or 6 clydesdales). That’s why they’re a trucking union today.
inko75@reddit
So teamsters also were big on the whole circle back thing?
redshlrt@reddit
Teamster comes from people that drove teams of horses or oxen to move goods and was then applied to people that drove trucks do do the same. The onion originally represented only teamsters, hence the name.
js4873@reddit (OP)
And the horses on the logo!
js4873@reddit (OP)
Interesting! That sounds better to me though because those are blue collar workers showing solidarity with each other. But when management calls me their “teammate” at my office that feels like they’re trying to make me feel like I’m somehow owing them some loyalty rather than just being someone who is here because they pay me.
AlienDelarge@reddit
Nah that was for mule/horse/etc teams pulling wagons. If your teammates are animals it does apply though.
AlienDelarge@reddit
Teamster comes from stock drawn wagon days where the person driving the animal team was the teamster. Thats where the union got its name and why their logo has horses.
Ok_Percentage5157@reddit
I'd much rather work on a team within a company, than be told "we're like family here".
OdinDogfather@reddit
Sp while i agree with the sentiment of this post, I'm in favor of leading/being part of a team. A team works together for a common goal. A team lives and dies by it's weakest link, forcing the members of the team to lift each other up. Now... I've been a part of "teams" that were just owners/management preaching nonsense. Those weren't teams. Those were "family" and family fucking sucks. But a good, true team can make life a lot easier and better.
Erika_Blumenkraft@reddit
I was on a fire team in the Army, and we were mostly not paying.
js4873@reddit (OP)
Ok that’s a great point and kind of what I’m saying. THAT is a team! You’re risking your lives for the greater good! But too many “teams” are just mild office workers inputting spreadsheets for some big boring company.
Relevant_Pomelo_9658@reddit
I'm with you on the guest thing. It makes me think there is something wrong with being a customer. It's probably my biggest problem with retail space.
sundayfunday78@reddit
My “shaking fists at the clouds” moment came yesterday on my drive home - I had an entire conversation with myself about drivers not using signals…ffs how am I supposed to know ur gonna turn when you don’t indicate that?
p4rc0pr3s1s@reddit
Team is better then family. If I can't scream obscenities at you then you are not family.
DrSnoopRob@reddit
"My co workers are not a team. We are not playing. We are working."
Yep, that's why they refer to the collective actions of a team as "teamplay" and not "teamwork".
elphaba00@reddit
Elaine Benes - "I am an ASSOCIATE." And the waitress turns to her and says "Me too"
UnfortunateSnort12@reddit
Damn dude. Chill! It doesn’t hurt anyone to be nice to each other.
Op: “No dudes! I’m not a dude. I’m a grumpy old man!”
js4873@reddit (OP)
Lololol. I swear I’m usually very nice. And I hide my annoyance at these things so I can rant about them anonymously online!! N
creddittor216@reddit
If we are a “family” at my job like they say, then it’s an emotionally and financially abusive relationship
Epicardiectomist@reddit
the guest thing I can accept, but the team thing is weird. I'm no friend to buzzwords, but I'm a manager and we are definitely a team. "team" denotes working together to achieve a common goal, whereas "department" just sounds like a collection of people doing things.
Mexican_Boogieman@reddit
Yea. My co workers is who my quality of work affects the most. Yea. Fuck the company. Boss makes a dollar and I make dime and all that. I still respect my coworkers more and have their back more than the company.
ShinePretend3772@reddit
I used to work for CompUSA’s tech services. They sent out a memo stating that we must answer the phone “Thank you for calling CompUSA. How may I service you today?” I said it exactly once. The customer laughed.
nahnsense@reddit
Teammates I'm less of a stickler for. Not everyone I work with is a teammate, but people on my team/division/group are, no? I am also not a guest at CVS. Are you a guest at a hotel? Pretty clearly yes. What about a restaurant? Where are you drawing the line?
My old man rant is that they always say "can I help the following guest?" Why f-ing "following"? It makes no sense! "Next" is a word and the correct one.
Quimbymouse@reddit
I recently went back to school after medically retiring from the military. I understand most of my peers are young, but my god...the childish games the instructors like to get the students to play in the name of being "teammates" is infuriating. I go with it (millennial/xennial mask, am I right?)...maybe I'll let an eyeroll slip out...but inside I'm seething. Just teach me the material!
js4873@reddit (OP)
Thank you!!!!
APFernweh@reddit
The coworkers I work closely with on cases (I’m a litigator) sure as fuck are my teammates. We are in the trenches together. And as an attorney, it is part of my job to rally the non-attorney support staff so they know they are equally valued inside the team. I’ll die on this hill.
Cephalopod_Dropbear@reddit
“I wouldn’t charge a guest to be in my home”
Coworker said that to our boss and it was fun watching the boss scramble.
LocallySourcedWeirdo@reddit
Have you ever heard of a team of horses? Or Seal Team 6? Teams are not limited to sports franchises.
js4873@reddit (OP)
You’re killing me smalls.