I'd like to buy a vowel...and a few consonants
Hello my lovelies,
Remember me! I'm that snarky pain in the ass that used to fill your inbox with nonsense, but now I only occasionally clutter your email. I've been in a bit of a funk and didn't feel like I was funny enough to write for the last few weeks, but apparently a cool, gray day was the thing I needed to get unfunkified. Who knew!
I should start by officially announcing that I am giving up my downtown life. Don't worry, the Wheel of Fortune reference in the title of this drivel is not an indication that I found a way to weasel my way into one of those posh 55+ communities. Don't judge! Have you seen some of those communities? I would totally consider weaseling my way in! And who knows - dating younger (30-something) didn't work, so maybe 50-something is my new 40, but I digress. Nope, I'm giving up the downtown life because, well frankly, because, downtown rent is ridiculously expensive! I knew the Denver Tech Center would be cheaper, but I didn't realize just how much cheaper until I started looking.
When I embarked on this quest I intended to maintain a Denver address, but when I actually visited these places I realized that keeping a Denver address near Light Rail pretty much meant living in a dump where pedestrians are doomed to become roadkill. Therefore, in order to save some cash and live somewhere that doesn't require me driving my car everyday I signed a lease at an apartment just off of I-25 and Arapahoe. It's literally blocks from my office, my gym and the light rail. Additionally, by overlapping with my current lease for a few weeks I was able to secure a 3rd floor unit with a mountain view. This move saves me more than $1000 per month! (FWIW Finnigan, I DID manage to remain North of Arapahoe Rd... like a whole block north... teehee)
The building is great! The amenities there are actually better than in my current building. It's a comparable size, ~1200sq ft with a 2 master bedroom layout and the view really is spectacular. My new lease starts Oct 10, so I will officially be vacating my downtown pad in late October. If anyone wants to come downtown for one last hurrah you better come soon as I won't be living here much longer.
OK, so enough about how I am going to fund future travel let's dig into this Wheel of Fortune bidness, shall we.
I really do love my job! It's fantastic to be in a place where I feel like I am truly valued and respected and thriving. I would encourage everyone to find a way to experience this at least once in your life. Going to work doesn't have to suck! I recently went to Atlanta for a project that I knew was pushing my skill set, but my boss had faith in me, so I took it on. Turns out, me taking it on was a huge mistake. The learning curve for me to get up to speed with what the client wants and needs was way too steep and my current project load is such that I ended up failing everyone by trying to do everything. My amazing boss recognized this and my dear friend Tony Orlando (Seriously, that's his real name and he's AWESOME!) had an ace up his sleeve. Tony helped secure a new, exceptionally well-qualified resource, and within a matter of days we turned things around.
Paging Vanna White, when are we getting to the Wheel part of this program.... OK, so here's my beef. The new consultant is great. He's very personable, he's very articulate, but this guy seems to have an issue with whole words. In nearly every email he sends there is a line that reads "PL complete and return" or "PL reply back." The client that we are working with has the initials PL, so for the last week I've thought when he referenced "PL" he was instructing the client to do something. Seemed a little bossy, but he's kicking ass (and saving mine) so I didn't really care. It was only today, and only because it was obvious that he needed me to do something that I realized "PL" is not a client directive, but it's actually Please.
WTF! Is it really that difficult to type ease? Reading back through some previous emails I now see the pattern. He writes TY instead of Thank you. Thx instead of Thanks. YW instead of Thank you doing your damn job! (PS there is another post in the works about how unnecessary the phrase "You're welcome" really is.) You're Welcome! (that is oooozing with sarcasm in case you didn't get that..)
OK, so my dumbass took a week to figure out that PL meant please, I'm a bit slow. Then this afternoon I was copied on a reply to one of my consultant's emails and the respondent said he would "review and respond tmrw." My damn head nearly exploded. This is a "Business Development Executive" from a MAJOR professional services firm, responding to an RFP with tmrw? Does he have a daily quota of letters that he can use and had to save all those "o" for tomorrow? Wink wink - do you see what I did there!
Don't get me wrong, some abbreviations/initialisms are great. Big fan of the good ole' WTF! LOL is a bit overused, but still acceptable. Loves me some FWIW. An oldie, but a goodie IMHO! But "Please" and "Thank you" really are sacred. Let's join forces and stop the perpetuation of this PL / TY crap. Next time you are considering being a lazy, jackwad and typing only TY here are a few phrases to that you can use instead.
Thanks
Thank you
You da bomb!
Boom diggity
Bitchin
Sweet
You rock!
I trust you, my fellow coffee fiends, to break this trend. Stop the madness! Say Please! Say Thank you! Use your words people - Use your words!
Until next time...
XOXO