[marron]

I never use their words for things, and I notice they always repeat my order in their language. One of them tried to prompt me to use the right language, and I told him, “you work here, you have to call it that. I don’t. I get to call it anything I want.”

He laughed. He didn’t call the cops, which apparently was lucky for me.

[B-Chan]

My first job in the art business was setting type at an AlphaGraphics copy shop. The old bastard who ran the joint used to come flying out of his office in a purple-faced rage if precise corporate-HQ terminology was deviated from. When the phone rang, for example, we had to pick it up and say "Hello, Sir/Ma'am, and thank you for calling AlphaGraphics Printshops of the Future, my name is _____, how may I help you?"

Eight out of ten times we'd hear the customer hang up around the word "future".

My conclusion at the time: business people are stupid.

My conclusion 25 years later: business people are stupider than I could have possibly imagined.