Does your boss have a grandparent ? Workplace office speak.

[ToffeeNotCoffee]

Recently I saw some written instructions that requested grandparent permission i.e. your supervisor's Manager. I queried it and got told that it was correct.

Yes along with other ridiculous abuse of the language

I want to know who exactly makes this shit up, and manages to say it with enough arrogant authority that others assume its normal language and don'tlaugh question it

Only ever in a joking way so in academia I have referred to my PhD grandfather ( PhD supervisors PhD supervisor)

Parent-child hierarchy is quite common in database structuring e.g. SQL. Possibly it's been borrowed from that?

@ChairOfInvisibleStudies

Parent-child hierarchy is quite common in database structuring e.g. SQL. Possibly it's been borrowed from that?

I've also seen master/slave in coding but somehow they manage to restrain themselves from using that in WankSpeak

I had a workplace "uncle" once - a project I was working on was being run by someone who wasn't my line-manager. He needed extra help and there wasn't much work in my normal team so I was loaned to him for a few months. He was the same seniority level as my line manager and they both reported to the same director. But I didn't think of that director as a grandfather! The uncle terminology made sense though.

Ha, I'd hope even the Dilbertiest manager would think twice about that one!

Oh gosh, that’s awful! Your line manager/supervisor is NOT your mum/dad!

In my company we would use LM+1/LM+2 to denote how many layers above your direct line manager you needed approval.

We talk about grandfathering at work in the context of grandfather clauses (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clause) but yes, that's really weird Would be senior line manager in our place in that context.

I've also seen master/slave in coding

We're meant to refer to primary/secondary now. Also we shouldn't mention male/female connections for hardware, nor black box/white box testing. I think there were a couple of other terms no longer permitted but I forget what.

We just talk about manager's manager, or just director or VP, if you need a particular level of approval. I've only heard grandfathered in terms of retiring hardware.

Never heard of a workplace grandparent. We either speak in job titles or levels (we have a clear level structure).

Yep, we have grandparent managers where I work. But for another partner we have first line manager and second line manager. Doesn't make it easy to keep track of who's who and induct new starters

On the Ask a Manager blog which is American, they regularly talk about grandboss and great-grandboss (your boss's boss and so on) which I'd never heard in the UK.

I think this is an American thing that has crept over here. If you read the "ask a manager" blog she's constantly referring to your "grandboss" and "great grand boss" as a short hand for levels of management - it makes me cringe so hard and I absolutely hate it. I already spend enough time in work, my colleagues are great but they are not my "work family" (another phrase I hear a lot)!

Just say "my manager" "a senior manager" "the big boss" or whatever!

Ah cross post athena51!

@Athena51

On the Ask a Manager blog which is American, they regularly talk about grandboss and great-grandboss (your boss's boss and so on) which I'd never heard in the UK.

I quite like this in an informal/jokey sense, but even then I think it's weird to have it on a formal document and even weirder for it to be "grandparent" which has no relation to work structures at all!

That would make your immediate line manager your work mum or work dad, which is weird. We have team leaders and group leaders (of teams).

Sometimes people are grandfathered into qualifications. We all had that at work even though a lot of us are women and I know one profession where 95%+ are female and they were grandmothered into a professional registration by their professional body.

@latetothefisting

Ah cross post athena51!

Great minds and all that

Grandboss makes sense. Grandparent reinforces a parent-child dynamic which is not the most healthy workplace relationships.

It would also make me a grandmother. It was bad enough being referred to as ‘mother-hen’ as ‘positive’ feedback in a leadership position I had once.

I hate “grandboss” on ask a manager, cringe, but I like what the French do - “N+X” with the N being you and the X being the number of rungs of management. N+1 is your boss. So “my N+2” is your boss’s boss, “my N+3” is my boss’s boss’s boss, etc

I have heard of grandparent contracts but I’ve never heard of my manager’s boss being called a granny. I don’t think she’d appreciate it if we started doing it

I work in comms so am usually well up on the wank-speak but that is terrible! Your manager isn't your mum or dad! Yuck!! M+1 or LM+1 is perfectly fine or just use titles - team lead, department head, etc.

This is so cringey, I have worked across loads of corporate clients and never heard this

I'm a civil servant, I think we refer to them as countersigning officers