To think this is unacceptable

[Sisterelephant]

This lady updates the FB page of our local children's centre. She asked me a few months ago to like the page as she was now taking over it.

There are daily updates on frankly what I think is unprofessional and should be checked before going live.

Things such as using the word 'grate' for great, putting xxxxxxx at the end of status' and general terrible grammar.

Now, I'm not perfect, my grammar is rubbish but I would get a second opinion if I had a similar job.

AIBU to think its not acceptable?

I'm too chicken to complain but want to have a moan, yes I have too much time on my hands

[thankfeckitschrismas]

Afromom. But the children's centre has a target audience....and you aren't it, in the nicest possible way.

Kids are having kids, and some of the child-mums will be put off by anything that resembles school, formality stuffiness and will be attracted to the informal luv hugz and hunni

Often the first person they see will determine how they feel about an organisation, and it seems to me she's trying to be 'one of them ' which is no bad thing in my book.

[WooWooOwl]

Why would it bring a sense of smug satisfaction to anyone just because things that are being publicly written by the CC are written properly?

The point is that it won't provoke any reaction at all, because it's just information being shared appropriately.

[BoffinMum]

I agree, there is no reason why people can't learn correct spelling and grammar. If you go on Friends Reunited and compare the posts of different generations from the same schools you would be shocked at home much knowledge has been denied certain groups of young people today. Indeed they have probably denied themselves this knowledge. But it is never too late to put that right.

[Nanny0gg]

Often the first person they see will determine how they feel about an organisation

Absolutely. And if this lady is as nice as the OP says she is, having her as the front desk receptionist can only be an asset for the CC.

Doesn't mean she should be solely responsible for publicity/information material.

My former school has upgraded its website and there is a stonking great grammatical error on one of the links. I am desperately thinking of a tactful way of pointing it out. I don't want to upset anyone, but it is not acceptable on an educational publication and I'm pretty sure parents will notice.

[tenminutestory]

Are you sure you don't grate on her nerves? By overreacting to every little thing perhaps?

[TheNightIsDark]

Jesus fucking Christ. Young parents can't understand standard English? ODFOD. If you took your head out of your daily mail reading arse for 2 seconds you may realise that not all young parents are illiterate, scared of grammar and appreciate being spoken to like a small child with hugz and hunni.

What a horrific generalisation.

[volvocowgirl]

Is the centre owned by the local authority? If so they are probably breaking the social media policy as most local authorities adhere to the same standards which dictate professionalism levels such as tone, etc. you could ring your local council - they might give her some training so the page can be more appropriate (could help her in the future as something to put on the CV).

[THECliffRichardSucksEggsinHell]

MrsDeVere not sure if you are aware of this but I am as working class as it comes. I also left school at 16 with not one GCSE to my name. I was always a good speller however and now work as a copywriter.

It's insulting to think that people who can't spell are somehow thick and need educating. We only have the OP's word for how bad this woman is, for all we know it could be trivial mistakes here and there.

I know some very intelligent people with dyslexia who would be mortified to have their spelling picked on. I also know educated and professional people who can't spell for toffee.

No-one is perfect.

The spelling does not reflect on the education or intelligence of the receptionist and it does not make any difference on the quality of care the children at the centre receive.

Facebook is a difficult one because on the one hand it is an informal space, hence the term 'social media' and not 'professional'. On the other it presents the public face of a business to the masses. Yet having looked at some other businesses on Facebook most of them update in a friendly and informal way. It's not a professional media source.

By bringing class into this debate I feel posters are just revealing their inner snobbery. This poor woman has no idea she is being torn apart on a parenting forum has she?

I repeat, this feels very mean to me.

But OP, you posted on AIBU so don't expect everyone to agree with you and don't get snotty when they don't.

[THECliffRichardSucksEggsinHell]

Who says she is not degree educated? My niece is and works in a shop. Plenty of people are degree educated and still have a problem with spelling. Dyslexia is very common and so when picking up on someone's spelling you need to be careful.

I need to be able to spell and have a good grasp of grammar too, but not everyone needs this and I should imagine childcare is one of those professions. They are not teachers and this lady isn't even responsible for the care of children.

I would not choose a childcare centre based on their Facebook page and I don't know anyone who would. I would choose it based on a visit, OFSTED reports, recommendations, the cleanliness of the place, the happiness of the children, the friendliness of the staff, the policies it has in place, etc. I would not judge a person on their spelling and equally I would not judge an establishment based on an informal Facebook page. That would be crass.

But once again, my opinion on an AIBU thread.

[Nanny0gg]

Anyone spotted many spelling/grammar mistakes on this thread?

No.

Even by those who think it is okay to ignore spelling/grammar mistakes on a council publication.

Of course it doesn't reflect on her intelligence - it reflects probably, on the paucity of her English language education. I wonder how old she is...

[WaitingForMe]

My concern upon reading the page would not be about the person writing the updates but rather about the management who didn't care or were unaware. It would make me wonder about their attitude towards the staff who do look after the children. Are their first aid certificates up to date etc.

[wowfudge]

This is essentially a business using it's FB page to promote itself. Poor grammar and spelling, along with unprofessional 'kisses' at the end of status posts look dire! You can be chatty without being sloppy and unprofessional. This is one of the situations where there should be a degree of formality. I take it they don't have a policy on external communications because that would be the natural place to have guidelines?

I think that some people just don't think about how these kinds of things come across. When you write anything like a FB post for a business or an email at work you need to think 'what would someone else (i.e. not the intended recipient) think if they were to read this?'. Just because someone isn't the 'target audience' now doesn't mean they won't be in the future either.

[lookatmybutt]

Anything customer facing absolutely needs to be written with some semblance of professionalism, so that people can understand it. Anybody that doesn't make an effort to be understood is lazy, unprofessional and incompetent. It's really not hard to learn how to write a basic letter.

I certainly don't mind receiving letters with the odd spelling mistake/typo/minor grammatical error, but I've received things from 'professionals' that look like they were written by a bunch of dim 6 year olds.

Some of my colleagues are the worst: letters written using netspeak, @ instead of 'at', grammar so poor I've had to read things aloud just to understand the jist, unneccesary information, overcomplicated, question marks inserted just because someone couldn't understand somebody else's handwriting and couldn't be bothered to work it out.

And this is from people who should know better: prep or private school, degree in English, boarding school. I had many letters from my consultant's secretary that looked like they'd been written by a team of monkeys. Important medical information rendered completely unreadable. From a medical secretary. All educated in this country.

For my work - it was insulting and confusing for our customers, many of whom were undereducated or whose first language wasn't English. These letters were unreadable to them because... well... they made no sense. I lost count of the amount of times I had to help a customer decypher the utter gibberish a colleague had written.

I find people who speak English not-as-a-first language tend to have a better understanding of English than many English speakers do.

Instead of being all defensive of the illiterate, lazy idiots this country turns out, people should be angry that our standards are so low we are becoming a joke to native speakers of, say, Tagalog.

[THECliffRichardSucksEggsinHell]

It's not a council publication, it's a Facebook page.

Bloody hell, some people are making this to be a far bigger deal than it is and are now making HUGE assumptions on this poor woman's education, age, class and intelligence.

I'm sorry but this thread comes across as horribly snobbish and mean.

Innit?

[THECliffRichardSucksEggsinHell]

"Instead of being all defensive of the illiterate, lazy idiots this country turns out"

Charming. Utterly charming.

I am appauled that people can hold such ignorant and narrow minded views. No wonder people with dyslexia are still being told they are thick and lazy.

I am so glad I don't know some of you in real life.

[THECliffRichardSucksEggsinHell]

I'm not saying she has dyslexia, I'm offering it as a possibility as it is very common and most people hide it because of attitudes like lookatmybutt which, by the way, is an Americanism. We don't use the word 'butt' in this country love.

What other assumptions have I made?

And someone said that the Facebook page was a council publication. You can hardly count a Facebook page as a publication.

[lookatmybutt]

Did I mention dyslexia? Did you even read my post? I've received plenty of letters from dyslexic people that were perfectly understandable. My dad is dyslexic and worked hard for many years to overcome it, but never really succeeded. His is quite bad and he tends to get me or my mum to 'translate' any letters he writes.

His dyslexia does not make him use the terms FYI, @, huni (or honey), xxxxx or start waffling on about nonsensical and irrelevant crap.

I know at least 3 highly paid engineers who are dyslexic.

I think it's far more insulting to assume that dyslexic people can't do better just because their spelling can be a little wonky.

[lookatmybutt]

And I like butts, get the fuck over it. I know, right! How dare those forren words come to this country! I also use the word irregardless. NOTHIN U CAN DO.

Would I write it in a customer facing letter? Fuck no!

[THECliffRichardSucksEggsinHell]

No butt you just mentioned how lazy, illiterate and idiotic people were.

I mentioned dyslexia because many of them were labelled this at school and in the workplace by people who were ignorant of the condition.

I have stated that if you are to pick on an individual because of their spelling then you should be careful that they don't have a valid reason for this. I think you will find that most people don't misspell because of laziness or idiocy.

The examples the OP has provided of the crimes this poor receptionist has done, aren't enough to demonstrate one way or the other.

I have an issue with some poor woman being judged and deemed as either uneducated/young/working class/lazy or an idiot.

I also don't like snobbery. Or narrow minded people like yourself who just likes to make sweeping generalisations which they then fail to justify.