# Inept, Pompous Windbags (aka Middle Management)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 20, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152 "2010-05-20T18:03:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/1 "2010-05-20T18:03:48Z")
Anyone else have a boss who has no skills other than the ability to spew corporate-speak and conversation filler ad nauseum, schedule meetings to force groups to submit to said spewing, and act as a buffer between the haves (upper management) and the have-nots?
Here’s a recently compiled list of endless phrases that make up the verbal diarrhea:
I’m just thinking out loud/run it up the flagpole/double-back/if for some reason/take a few steps back/in terms of/what we’ll call/what I like to call/what I think of as/huddle up/first and foremost/as a sanity check/refer back to it/at a high level/adhoc questions/with the exception of/under normal circumstances/for the most part/to the best of our ability/I’ll just call it…/collectively over time/flesh out/so to speak/committed to memory/aligned with/as it relates to/go so far as to/greater level of detail/going forward/made reference to/as an example/to your point/until such time as/respectively/as well as/what comes to mind/for what it’s worth/gains traction/along the lines of/in its present form/in light of/literally/to some extent/as recently as/in my mind’s eye/side of the equation
Every interaction is 30 seconds of semi-pertinent info surrounded by an hour of fluff…
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### Author:  [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/2 "2010-05-20T18:30:45Z")
Sounds like you need to step up to the plate and take one for the team.
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### Author:  [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/3 "2010-05-20T18:36:40Z")
That is … if you have the bandwidth.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/4 "2010-05-20T18:38:50Z")
That dog won’t hunt.
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### Author:  [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/5 "2010-05-20T19:03:32Z")
His predecessor was guilty of those kind of catch-phrases. We made fun of him too, but at least he kept it brief. It wasn’t 1/10th as torturous as the constant barrage of self-important blather to which this clown subjects us. His cube is within earshot of mine; as I’m typing I just heard “In my mind’s eye” again…who says this???
Kevbo, stepping up to the plate would probably cost me my job and lead to prison time…
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### Author:  [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/6 "2010-05-20T19:07:15Z")
Maybe you can get him to shift back to the old paradigm.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/7 "2010-05-20T19:25:24Z")
Any way your company could leverage that skill to provide maximum stakeholder benefit on a going-forward basis?
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/8 "2010-05-20T19:28:14Z")
Buzzword Bingo Generator (similar items available wherever the Internet is sold).
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/9 "2010-05-20T20:08:27Z")
Whenever I hear this sort of talk -
outside the box
empowerment
ownership
that “everyfuckingbody is a motherfuckingcustomer” glurge
teaming
team player
paradigm
process
interface
Any of it.
I want to kill.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/10 "2010-05-20T20:19:43Z")
Looks like someone’s got a case of the Mondays!
Strange day to have it on, though…
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### Author:  [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/11 "2010-05-20T20:31:38Z")
> [@Mixolydian](#):
>
> Anyone else have a boss who has no skills other than the ability to spew corporate-speak and conversation filler ad nauseum, schedule meetings to force groups to submit to said spewing, and act as a buffer between the haves (upper management) and the have-nots?
Man you just described the boss at my last job and his boss as well. At least the latter could be an entertaining conversationalist when he wanted to be, but he was still a blowhard who literally sat on his ass all day blogging and trying to write the great American novel. I am not making that up.
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### Author:  [@Lunchy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunchy)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/12 "2010-05-20T21:38:22Z")
> [@SteveG1](#):
>
> Whenever I hear this sort of talk -
>
> outside the box
> empowerment
> ownership
> that “everyfuckingbody is a motherfuckingcustomer” glurge
> teaming
> team player
> paradigm
> process
> interface
>
> Any of it.
>
> I want to kill.
I’m with ya! Love a boss who says "Be original, think outside the box’'.
Yeah, because you are right?!
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/13 "2010-05-20T21:50:42Z")
I got the same, only it’s female.
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### Author:  [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/14 "2010-05-20T22:46:09Z")
Yep - that’s my boss. I do like the guy, in spite of it.
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### Author:  [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/15 "2010-05-20T23:23:04Z")
You and your co-workers need to play [buzzowrd bingo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzword_bingo).
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/16 "2010-05-20T23:28:13Z")
Today I got the “Statistically, 10% of such-and-such is out of your control. Your numbers are blah, therefore blah, blah, blah.”
To which I answered, truthfully, showing that in my case, more than 10% had fuck-all to do with me and therefore my numbers were a statistical anomaly.
Which got a very narrow full-blinders response straight back into the “numbers”.
Ok, motherfucker, if you really knew anything about numbers and statistics, you would know that outliers are completely within statistical probablility and when it has been clearly demonstrated that the individual has been subject to more than the default standard (long term, wide scope average) 10% variance, that blaming the person for shit beyond their control and making threats about it is extremely foolish.
Except in that it makes you feel better because you feel you’ve “done something” about a statistical anomaly.
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### Author:  [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/17 "2010-05-20T23:49:15Z")
Most of this crap is spewed from people who are normally levels above a position they should hold and as a result have no idea as to what they are doing, or should be doing.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/18 "2010-05-21T04:01:33Z")
Please be advised that your attitude is fundamentally incompatible with our mission statement.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/19 "2010-05-21T04:09:22Z")
> [@Mixolydian](#):
>
> I’m just thinking out loud/run it up the flagpole/double-back/if for some reason/take a few steps back/in terms of/what we’ll call/what I like to call/what I think of as/huddle up/first and foremost/as a sanity check/refer back to it/at a high level/adhoc questions/with the exception of/under normal circumstances/for the most part/to the best of our ability/I’ll just call it…/collectively over time/flesh out/so to speak/committed to memory/aligned with/as it relates to/go so far as to/greater level of detail/going forward/made reference to/as an example/to your point/until such time as/respectively/as well as/what comes to mind/for what it’s worth/gains traction/along the lines of/in its present form/in light of/literally/to some extent/as recently as/in my mind’s eye/side of the equation
Set this to the right beat and you could make a fortune, or at least get a million downloads.
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### Author:  [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inept-pompous-windbags-aka-middle-management/540152/20 "2010-05-21T05:54:45Z")
In an architectural history course several of us would make bets on how far into his lecture the prof would go before he used the word “overview”. Every lecture.
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