We are going through the annual “reorganization” at work. No one at my (middle management) level believes it, but it’s not our decision. But leadership is giving us all the standard platitudes - “this will actually be better” “we’ll be more productive” etc. So not only do they want us to buy into this, but they want iu to buy into this, even though they know it’s bull crap, we know it’s bull crap, and they know we know it’s bull crap.
So is there a polite or politically correct term when leadership or ownership wants you to put on a happy fan, even though we all know we’re being asked to support things we don’t believe in and aren’t in our best interest?
(I HATED that book precisely because I interpreted it as saying “We’re going ship your jobs overseas… or slash your benefits… and force to you do more with less… but you should treat this as a positie thing, and an opportunity for growth.”
No possible way to criticize upper management will ever be polite or politically correct. You’re planning on speaking truth to power. It’s not *meant *to be polite. And it won’t go unpunished, either, no matter how posh you try and make it sound.
I suppose a not_too_vulgar way to say it would be “Do you really expect us/me to buy this ?” or “Do you believe this [bullshit rationale] makes us/me feel better ?”. But seriously, if you’re going to tell the Man to fuck off, tell 'em to fuck right off.
In the service, we had the acronym “BOHICA”, which stands for “Bend Over, Here It Comes Again”. It preceded the release of “Animal House” and the phrase “Thank you, Sir. May I have another?”
Polite things to say would be “thanks for the reorganization”, “thanks for framing these changes in a positive light”, or “thanks for guiding us through this process”.
In Neal Stephenson’s Anathem, bulshytt is a technical term which includes your suggested meaning. Curiously similar pronunciation to another word, though…
I have no clue how people are coming up with some of these phrases, but it seems the conventional aphorism for the line in the title is “Please don’t insult my intelligence.” However, that’s a phrase that nobody wants to be told. Maybe something more corporate is what is desired: “A new expectations management strategy is required due to less than optimal testing in workgroup expectations for the new paradigm.”
Not sure I get what the OP is asking for: a way to politely tell upper management he’s on to their bullshit? Or a way to tell the worker bees “Yes, I know it’s bullshit, but please play along.”??
In any case, it reminds me of a sign in the window of a nearby chain store that recently closed the store in my neighborhood: “In order to serve you better, we are closing this location.”
Have they said what was wrong with last year’s reorg that precipitated this year’s version? Have they said what they’re going to do different/better so as to get different results? Another traditional response would be “How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit?”
I was looking for a concise term that captures this scenario, but is more professional sounding than “don’t bullshit me and ask me to drink the Kool-Aid” or “don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining” when talking to co-workers, spouse etc.
I have no issue tell my boss in a conversation how I feel. I just thought there would be a concise term for this, but apparently not.
Seriously, the analogy with totalitarian propaganda is disturbingly on-target. Anyone stupid enough to really believe it wouldn’t last long, and yet while knowing it’s a lie you have to treat it as the truth because that’s what the Chairman says.
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