Phrases Useful in the Workplace

1. Thank you – we’re all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.
2. The fact that no one understands you doesn’t mean you’re an artist.
3. I don’t know what your problem is, but I’ll bet it’s hard to pronounce.
4. Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
5. I have plenty of talent and vision; I just don’t care.
6. I like you. You remind me of when I was young and inexperienced.
7. What am I – flypaper for freaks!?
8. I’m not being rude. I’m just ignoring you.
9. I’m already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.
10. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.
11. It’s a thankless job, but I’ve got a lot of calories to burn off.
12. Yes, he is an agent of Satan, but his duties are largely ceremonial.
13. No, my powers can only be used for good.
14. How about never? Is never good for you?
15. I’m really easy to get along with once you people realize I’m right.
16. Your idea seems reasonable… Time to up my medication.
17. I’ll try being nicer if you’ll try being smarter.
18. I’m out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message…
19. I don’t work here. I’m a consultant.
20. Who me? I just wander from room to room.
21. My toys! My toys! I can’t do this job without my toys!
22. It might look like I’m doing nothing, but at the cellular level I’m really quite busy.
23. At least I have a positive attitude about my destructive habits.
24. You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
25. I see you’ve set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.

REASONS FOR LEAVING THE LAST JOB: –Responsibility makes me nervous. –They insisted that all employees get to work by 8:45 every morning. Couldn’t work under those conditions.

REASONS FOR LEAVING MY LAST JOB: –Was met with a string of broken promises and lies, as well as cockroaches. –I was working for my mom until she decided to move. –The company made me a scapegoat – just like my three previous employers.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: –While I am open to the initial nature of an assignment, I am decidedly disposed that it be so oriented as to at least partially incorporate the experience enjoyed heretofore and that it be configured so as to ultimately lead to the application of more rarefied facets of financial management as the major sphere of responsibility. –I was proud to win the Gregg Typting Award.

SPECIAL REQUESTS & JOB OBJECTIVES: –Please call me after 5:30 because I am self-employed and my employer does not know I am looking for another job. –My goal is to be a meteorologist. But since I have no training in meteorology, I suppose I should try stock brokerage. –I procrastinate – especially when the task is unpleasant.

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES: –Minor allergies to house cats and Mongolian sheep.

PERSONAL INTERESTS: –Donating blood. 14 gallons so far.

SMALL TYPOS THAT CAN CHANGE THE MEANING: –Education: College, August 1880-May
1984. –Work Experience: Dealing with customers’ conflicts that arouse. –Develop and recommend an annual operating expense fudget. –I’m a rabid typist. –Instrumental in ruining entire operation for a Midwest chain operation.

Neighbor 1: “Hi, there, new neighbor, it sure is a mighty nice day to be moving.” New Neighbor: “Yes, it is and people around here seem extremely friendly.”

Neighbor 1: “So, what is it you do for a living?” New Neighbor: “I am a professor at the University, I teach deductive reasoning.”

Neighbor 1: “Deductive reasoning, what’s that?” New Neighbor: “Let me give you an example. I see you have a dog house out back. By that I deduce that you have a dog.” Neighbor 1: “That’s right.”

New Neighbor: “The fact that you have a dog, leads me to deduce that you have a family.” Neighbor 1: “Right again.”

New Neighbor: “Since you have a famly, I deduce that you have a wife.” Neighbor 1: “Correct.”

New Neighbor: “And since you have a wife, I can deduce that you are heterosexual.” Neighbor 1: “Yup.” New Neighbor: “That is deductive reasoning.” Neighbor 1: “Cool.”

Later that same day: Neighbor 1: “Hey, I was talking to that new guy who moved in next door.” Neighbor 2: “Is he a nice guy?” Neighbor 1: “Yes, and he has an interesting job.” Neighbor 2: “Oh, yeah, what does he do?” Neighbor 1: “He is a professor of deductive reasoning at the University.” Neighbor 2: “Deductive reasoning, what is that?” Neighbor 1: “Let me give you an example. Do you have a dog house?” Neighbor 2: “No.” Neighbor 1: “Fag!”

A fellow bought a new Mercedes and was out on the interstate for a nice evening drive. The top was down, the breeze was blowing through what was left of his hair and he decided to open her up.

As the needle jumped up to 80 mph he suddenly saw a flashing red and blue light behind him.

“There’s no way they can catch a Mercedes,” he thought to himself and opened her up further. His needle hit 90, 100, 110. Then the reality of the situation hit him.

“What the heck am I doing?” he thought and pulled over.

The cop came up to him, took his license without a word, and examined it and the car. Finally he came to the window looking steadily at the driver and said, “I’ve had a tough shift and this is my last pull over. I don’t feel like more paperwork so if you can give me an excuse for your driving that I haven’t heard before, you can go!”

The driver blinked only once while his brain scrambled for a reply. “Last week my wife ran off with a cop,” he said, “and I was afraid you were trying to give her back!”

“Off you go,” said the officer.

This is an actual essay written by a college applicant, when applying to NYU where he now attends.

3A. ESSAY IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:

ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I’m bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .
400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.