RANT about "young people" around the office

[Alphathree33]

First some disclaimers:

1) I'm in my 20s myself, so I'm not an old fart (yet)

2) I'm VERY casual around the office in most circumstances.

But I do believe in clear communication.

And we have some students and even new full-time employees who write emails like this:

"IMO, we should really do this."
"We can't cuz of ... (reasons)."

I *personally* understand them but this leaves me with zero faith that I can have them talk to an executive.

The only thing worse than this is marketing speak, as in:

"let's leverage our core assets to maximize synergies with other business units to realize the full benefits of this initative."

Both these styles of communication unnecessarily insert your PERSONALITY into your message.

Case 1, it's "I'm an Internet Generation kid who doesn't feel the need to use proper English"

Case 2, it's "I'm a fresh MBA graduate who doesn't really have anything to say but feels the need to string together big words I learned to sound smart."

Seriously, the smartest people I know just say what they mean in the clearest way possible. It's the only true way to "sound smart."

 

[Xavier434]

They will learn. Just give it time.

 

[jandrews]

haha, you would hate me, I manage a group of 12 people at the office and often I will send emails out to individuals with cuz and am i rite etc. Only time I am 100% professional is if it is really serious or a group email or something involving a customer. I dont think this type of stuff is going away gramps!

 

[Aharami]

hah, all the PMs here talk in that MBA lingo. Half the time I have no idea what they are talking about

 

[beer]

IMO = valid. Who doesn't understand it, and it saves times. Same reason that if I'm writing an email about finding a bug in frame M3 of the 4-way EAPOL handshake during a WPA2/AES-CCMP authentication, I'm going to write the acronyms and not spell them out.

cuz = stupid. Fire them.

 

[LS21]

lol r u serios?

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: LS21
lol r u serios?

u r rite!!!

 

[markgm]

heh, i no peeps who talk like dat 'oo.

 

[hiromizu]

My boss sometimes emails me "wut up, wuz good"
I just reply "chillin, bing smoov yo"

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: jandrews
haha, you would hate me, I manage a group of 12 people at the office and often I will send emails out to individuals with cuz and am i rite etc. Only time I am 100% professional is if it is really serious or a group email or something involving a customer. I dont think this type of stuff is going away gramps!

We meet again jandrews... :frown:

KT

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: jandrews
haha, you would hate me, I manage a group of 12 people at the office and often I will send emails out to individuals with cuz and am i rite etc. Only time I am 100% professional is if it is really serious or a group email or something involving a customer. I dont think this type of stuff is going away gramps!

We meet again jandrews... :frown:

KT

Hey I have been promoted 3 times in 3 years, apparently i must b doing sumthing rite!

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Ever heard of "Dont judge a book by its cover" ? As a generalization it might work, but you should NOT judge people by how they type

 

[nakedfrog]

I'd be okay with "IMO," but "cuz" would be right out in a business setting.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: jandrews

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: jandrews
haha, you would hate me, I manage a group of 12 people at the office and often I will send emails out to individuals with cuz and am i rite etc. Only time I am 100% professional is if it is really serious or a group email or something involving a customer. I dont think this type of stuff is going away gramps!

We meet again jandrews... :frown:

KT

Hey I have been promoted 3 times in 3 years, apparently i must b doing sumthing rite!

Well as long as you stay out of my office and inbox please, kthxbye.

KT

 

[jandrews]

Ok, I just sent this email out to someone verbatim

'Whenever u have time can u let me kno what happened w/ those few wkstns?' wuld that drive u nuts?

 

[LS21]

Originally posted by: hiromizu
My boss sometimes emails me "wut up, wuz good"
I just reply "chillin, bing smoov yo"

omg lawz 2 u!!!!

 

[purbeast0]

is this just like personal emails between a group of you guys or when they contact their managers with that kind of stuff?

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: jandrews
Ok, I just sent this email out to someone verbatim

'Whenever u have time can u let me kno what happened w/ those few wkstns?' wuld that drive u nuts?

[sic]

Yes, yes it would, very much so.

KT

 

[Alphathree33]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
is this just like personal emails between a group of you guys or when they contact their managers with that kind of stuff?

Well I am their manager, so yes, when they contact their manager.

But the thing is, emails get forwarded, and then forwarded again, and can always end up in the hands of an executive.

 

[Casawi]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
They will learn. Just give it time.

Don't they teach you how to be a professional in College ? I had to take this 2 credit class called professional development, where the teacher was so an%l about every detail.
I was told to never ever do write email like that.
Man I wrote my best English report and got a C from him. He marked me down for using not so good of a font ???? anyways ... I think coming out of college you should know better.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Casawi

Originally posted by: Xavier434
They will learn. Just give it time.

Don't they teach you how to be a professional in College ? I had to take this 2 credit class called professional development, where the teacher was so an%l about every detail.
I was told to never ever do write email like that.
Man I wrote my best English report and got a C from him. He marked me down for using not so good of a font ???? anyways ... I think coming out of college you should know better.

No. Professional etiquette in the business world is not a requirement to get a degree.

Hell, even with my CS major I wasn't really ready to program in the business world because it provided no experience with any of the modern languages.

 

[RandomFool]

That stuff drives me nuts too. Some acronyms are fine but too many just makes things confusing. I can sort of understand using some of that slang in text messages (I still hate it though) but there's no reason to use it in an email or anywhere you aren't limited by how many characters you can send.

 

[TruePaige]

I feel energized when I realize the synergy of our Netspeak Gen. Lingo with our Professional Empowerment Linguistics to establish a blissful powerhouse of idealization.

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: jandrews
Ok, I just sent this email out to someone verbatim

'Whenever u have time can u let me kno what happened w/ those few wkstns?' wuld that drive u nuts?

[sic]

Yes, yes it would, very much so.

KT

well in all fairness people signing their posts when i can see their name right next to their post already drive me nuts, so we r even!

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: RandomFool
That stuff drives me nuts too. Some acronyms are fine but too many just makes things confusing. I can sort of understand using some of that slang in text messages (I still hate it though) but there's no reason to use it in an email or anywhere you aren't limited by how many characters you can send.

wait till one of your friends comes back from basic training, all you hear is acronyms, we went down to the pbx for rwt and the cln told us we need to be back for pt at the bc.