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<blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 8734938" data-attributes="member: 4534">I'm more referring to what started us down this path: pedantry.&nbsp; I've had two careers where the the professional language was different from everyday parlance, and it's never been my job to correct them on their word choice.&nbsp; I had an employee come to me and say she wanted to file a grievance.&nbsp; I could have told her, &quot;I'm not your union representative, and we don't even have a union, so you can't file a grievance.&nbsp; What you mean is that you have a complaint.&quot;&nbsp; But that would have agitated her (rightly so), and made it more difficult for us to communicate.&nbsp; (It turns out her &quot;grievance&quot; was that her manager insisted she actually do her job.)&nbsp; At the first HR conference I attended, I jokingly told my peers, &quot;I'm not going to drink so much I make any career ending decisions tonight.&quot;&nbsp; Some of my peers got slightly tipsy, I certianly wouldn't have driven, but nobody I could see got hammered.&nbsp; And the same was true of events with alcohol when I worked in libraries and museums.&nbsp; (I got paid to drink tequila with a representative from the Mexican consulate!)&nbsp; If I see someone obviously drunk, vomiting, and continuing to drink, that's indicative of a serious problem to me.&nbsp; I wasn't sure how to bring up the alcohol consumption precisely for that reason, but it does seem like a contributing factor.&nbsp; But people are still responsible for their actions while under the influence.&nbsp; As Mitch Hedberg once said, &quot;Alcholism is a disease, but it's the only disease you can get yelled at for having.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MGibster, post: 8734938, member: 4534"] I'm more referring to what started us down this path: pedantry. I've had two careers where the the professional language was different from everyday parlance, and it's never been my job to correct them on their word choice. I had an employee come to me and say she wanted to file a grievance. I could have told her, "I'm not your union representative, and we don't even have a union, so you can't file a grievance. What you mean is that you have a complaint." But that would have agitated her (rightly so), and made it more difficult for us to communicate. (It turns out her "grievance" was that her manager insisted she actually do her job.) At the first HR conference I attended, I jokingly told my peers, "I'm not going to drink so much I make any career ending decisions tonight." Some of my peers got slightly tipsy, I certianly wouldn't have driven, but nobody I could see got hammered. And the same was true of events with alcohol when I worked in libraries and museums. (I got paid to drink tequila with a representative from the Mexican consulate!) If I see someone obviously drunk, vomiting, and continuing to drink, that's indicative of a serious problem to me. I wasn't sure how to bring up the alcohol consumption precisely for that reason, but it does seem like a contributing factor. But people are still responsible for their actions while under the influence. As Mitch Hedberg once said, "Alcholism is a disease, but it's the only disease you can get yelled at for having." [/QUOTE]

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