Never Say the Q Word

[Jay 2K Winger]

So... yesterday was my first day back at work after an almost two-week vacation.

Around 7:30am, I made the mistake of commenting to one of my managers, in a joking fashion, "I kinda want a nice quiet day to ease me back into things."

She looked at me in horror and said, "DON'T SAY THAT."

Within ten minutes, we were slammed with calls. And we stayed slammed, with at least 2 calls waiting in the queue (all the way up to 8 calls in queue at one point), for the rest of the day.

It finally trickled off after 5pm, when most of The Client's workforce was leaving for the day.

I accepted responsibility for it, and said to the manager later, "I regret everything."

[dalesys]

There's also the W word...

As in it, "It can't get any worse!"

[EricKei]

Back when I still ran pen-n-paper RPGs, I trained my players to never, EVER say anything like "Whew! I hope we don't have to go through all of that again!" Well, I didn't tell them this overtly, but they learned...they learned, and quickly.

[workerbee222]

That reminds me of an ER nurse commenting they learned *never* to say, "You know who we haven't seen for a while?"

[Rosco the Iroc]

Also never say anything about making good time/light traffic on trips.

[Web_Pict]

I learnt not to tell anyone that I'm about to take my lunch break soon. Because if I dare to word it out, someone would walk in. I usually shout "I'm off for lunch" when running in our break room...

[Deserted]

Brings to mind this old comic (that page is safe, but the vast majority of that site is NSFW):

[Android Kaeli]

Back when I was still on the register at the Warehouse, I made the mistake of saying that it was too quiet to one of the COS's. Sure enough, it got super busy for the next two hours -- I took responsibility for it once it died down.

[cindybubbles]

In the hospital where my mom used to work, the following words/phrases would probably be verboten:

- quiet
- slow
- not busy

because the moment you said any of them, the hospital would soon be slammed with people needing emergency care.

[Minflick]

NEVER compliment the hose-like qualities of the vein you are palpating. Nor the good temper of anything but known excellent animals.

[BrenDAnn]

saying that word is all but forbidden in my store. Saying that word will, without fail, cause everyone in town to suddenly decide that C-Store is the place to be, all at once. Even if someone asks me if it's been quiet, I'll only attest to it being 'not bad' most of the time. Don't want to risk angering the SC gods, after all!

[Thana]

At my job the words/phrases
"Go take a break/go give so and so a break."
"Go start this special project because we're dead."
"Go start stocking everything you can."
"I'm going to grab something to drink."
and
"So who wants to go home early?"
are all pretty much banned as well as "I wonder if we're going to be slow all day." "I kinda wish it'd pick up around x time and last until I go home.." "Today looks and feels like it's gonna be an easy day." "How many people do you have in line right now? None!"

As soon as any variation of those phrases/words get uttered...we get slammed....like from the counter to the freaking doors slammed and we stay that way for a few hours.

[Swordsman422]

The list of things we never say in the cockpit, even jokingly, is very long. Here are a few.

We don't say "crash," "crunch," "mishap," or "accident," and we don't talk about recent ones while we are on the plane, as that is speaking "MacBeth" in a theater. We never, ever wish any of our coworkers a happy flight and never tell them to be safe. We don't ever tell a fellow pilot to relax.

We don't say "take-off" in reference to the event until we are actually cleared to do so, because repeating back instructions with air traffic control is mandatory. It's "departure" until then, even when making the request for clearance. Last time terminology got screwed up 583 people died.

We are always (or should always be) courteous to ATC. We always wish them a good day on first contact and always to the same before we switch.

We don't ask the flight attendants for coffee. We don't drink the in-flight coffee (and neither should you) because the potable aircraft water is disgusting.

[Nunavut Pants]

Last time terminology got screwed up 583 people died.

He is not exaggerating that number, folks.

[Mr Hero]

The perimeter's quiet. Yeah, a little too quiet.
Well, that was easy. Yeah, a little too easy.
Look, it's Raph! Yeah, a little too Raph.