...to be annoyed at DH's employers to want to make him a corporate droid?

[lynniep]

Don't get me wrong, I understand the need for a professional attitude but thats not what I'm talking about. He's fairly senior in an unnamed large supermarket chain, and has been there for 6 months. He got a glowing review last month, but now he's been asked to take training because his manner is too 'laid back' and he doesn't speak 'corporate speak'.
Apparently everyone thinks he's great and a 'breath of fresh air in the office' but his lightheartedness (essentially in meetings) makes higher management think he doesnt take work seriously - in spite of the evidence to the contrary.

He's agreed, of course - they pay him a lot of money and its not exactly the end of the world to conform - but I still think it stinks. He's got a wonderful quirky personality and excels in every job he's ever done - employers have bent over backwards to try and get him back after hes resigned in the past and he's rarely not been offered a position after interview. They'll have seen what they were in for so to speak at his interview, and they still took him on.

Oh I know they need to project a certain image - even internally - I just had to get it off my chest...

ps he's not the annoying clown of the office - thats not what I meant by 'quirky'!

You are not being unreasonable. This is what puts me off going back into the corporate world. Dh currently works for a large corporate bank (major culture shock for him) and even has to have permission to joke with someone.

lynniep - i totally understand - i used to work in the City at a fairly high level - a lot of those fools at the top don't like it when people have a unique personality, are witty, different, have a unique sense of dress/style, have different political views, don't sit in the pub every night after work and get pissed until they drop, don't spend their holidays on some beach getting totally pissed/sun burned yet again rather than walk around and look at beautiful buildings, they don't like it when you would rather spend your free time with family and friends or watching a good film at the NFT, theatre, concert, etc...the only acceptable entertainment is getting pissed with the lads and telling sexist/racist jokes...yuk !!

they much rather you CONFORM and every single one of the people i saw being promoted was a robot that conformed and or licked the arse of his boss

that is why i am now self-employed, i won't play their game

I agree completely with Yellowrose (hi there!). Some organisations seem to feel threatened by individuality. A friend of mine reckons that she can spot a lawyer from a certain big city firm at 100 paces because they are, in her opinion, the ultimate corporate clones . Some people seem to develop the ability to play along with conforming whilst taking the mickey out of it in private, but others seem to really buy into the idea, which is very scary. Count youself lucky that you aren't expected to be the corporate wife. My dad worked for a large US organisation for years, and mum hated being the corporate wife, which was required of her regularly.

hi roskva - gosh yes the corporate wife is even worse !

it is like that ad for ferror rocher (sorry can't spell it although i like eating them !!) that looks like a 1970's swedish porn flick with "oh mr ambassador...you are spoiling us" sort of thing - very funny !

yes the City lawyer clone - some of my friends bought into it, sadly.

Oh God, how awful and I know exactly what you mean. I used to get into trouble in a big management consultancy firm for being irreverent... it makes working life SO dull if you never have a joke with anyone... Anyway, I ended up moving to executive education which is far better for those of us with a SOH.

lynniep - I wouldn't so much say 'unreasonable' - but why let it get to you? I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt so to speak. I was in a similar situation - even got criticised for wearing coloured shirts! (Not quite corporately correct, y'understand). If your dh is like me tho' he'll probably be having a good chuckle under his breath, getting his head down, "taking his medicine" then going back to his own area of work and carrying on as normal, or even, "worse", than before. Some call us "mavericks",. I prefer the word human. For yourself, best maybe just to chill a wee bit.

hey dh 1 - you're right I shouldnt let it get to me, and its fine now Ive written it down and gotten it off my chest. I guess I take it personally that someone would want to change him (apart from me that is - joke!)

and roskva - ha ha the corporate wife - no I don't think I could manage that - I giggle too much

It's the 'corporate speak' that always annoys me. I worked for a City bank and there were so many 'buzz words' and so-called snappy phrases. One colleague started referring to IT equipment as 'pieces of tin' as a joke and within hours the head of IT was using it quite seriously in meetings. The whole City experience has given me a life-long phobia of phrases such as 'thinking out of the box'!

he said last night that in meetings they do a round the table before starting to let the others know their current 'state' workwise. DH always says 'everythings going fine' or something to that effect, but apparently the correct response is something about being 'in or out of the box'. He says everyone else responds in this way but he feels its silly and unecessary so he doesnt bother - one of the reasons he 'needs' training...

I could never say 'out of the box' with a straight face! Mind you, I just love watching The Apprentice to see how many similar phrases they chuck in. Hilarious!

i had a german friend who was balled over by the whole US merchant bank thing, we were at uni. togther, but the minute she started working for the banks in the City she said things like "let's touch base" (what the feck, did she mean let's get in touch in NASA talk ?)and a whole load of things i can't remember now 15 years on ! it's quite sad the brainwashing that goes on in orgs. to get people to conform.

lynn - it sound like the best thing your dh can do is play it as they want so he can get on, but show 'em two fingers the minute he is out of the door, that's what i used to do people are entitled to a private life different to the crap they have to put up with at work.

Isn?t it a big steaming pile of poo? I hate that. All these clever phrases that were once coined by someone in an attempt to put something in an original manner are now the norm. ?Blue skies thinking?, ? vanilla system?, ?out of the box?, ?finding a window??. Next time someone sends me an e-mail telling me that they?ve found a ?window? for our meeting, I may just find a window to chuck the laptop through!!!

And since when did someone perching on the edge of a desk having an unofficial work-related discussion become a ?meeting?? No you are not having a meeting, you are having a chat FFS! That winds me up. Horrible self-importance.

This really annoys me. I hate the corporate world and the company I work for is corporatising itself (do you like my new corporate-speak word) in spades! We get 6 monthly reviews full of waffle and jargon, everyone above the level of cleaner has been made a manager, we get regular employee presentations by pretty people in smart suits (line managers are no longer capable of doing this apparently ). It used to be a company that made food. Now it?s a major corporate player in the world of food manufacturing and distribution. Yeah?right .

oh mummy, i LOVE the apprentice, the main reason i watch is Sir Alan Sugar's stuff like "i didn't give you that cash so you could piss it up the wall" fab, i wish my ex-bosses were that frank and funny, we would have had more fun in meetings !

as for the candidates, god would you employ any of them, they are all so deluded about corporate life and desparate to join the rat race it makes me laugh ! his last choice (the ex-check out girl) got pregnant 3 months into her job, with the loud mouth Asian she apparnetly detested on the programme , sadly had a miscarriage and then left. Sir Alan doesn't seem to be too shrewd in his choice of trainees, let's see which bimbo he picks this time !

It makes better TV if the bimbo is chosen - makes people go all touchy feely about equally opportunities, etc, as if that happened in real life. Just like no manager in their right mind would say "You're fired!" in real life

I love Lucy Kellaway's Martin Lukes column in the FT on Thursdays where she really sends up so well all the latest business jargon. I was talking to my second daughter at univesrity today about the ridiculous language her tutors use in place of English. When I do business stuff I like to say "We will sell you the Goods. We will deliver them by the 9th March." The aim is short, one word instead of two, simplicity, precision. I had to dissect a sentence for her.

too right roskva - the bimbo's and the loud mouths who swear (i actually really like Tre he is such a stereotype of himself !) make good viewing. that Katie woman makes me laugh, such a bitch with a horse face and trashy make up if there ever was one !

xenia is your daughter doing the Sale of Goods Act ?

She has exams next week so hopefully she has done it.