One manager’s 22 forbidden workplace words
“You will speak properly when you walk through these doors. These words are banned.” That message greeted Chick-fil-A employees and was followed by a list of slang terms their manager had apparently heard them use one too many times.
At least that’s the story as depicted by a Reddit user going by the name of Mauser.
On Reddit, Mauser claimed he’s an employee at a Chick-fil-A (he doesn’t mention the exact location) and that his manager — referred to only as “Eric” — posted the list.
Mauser posted an image of the list under the link “I work at Chick-fil-a and Eric, our manager, is tired of our s**t”.
Here are the words “Eric’s” list banned (along with Urban Dictionary’s definitions of the words — or, at least, communication experts’ best interpretations as to why employees would be using them):
- Bae — this word was scratched out by an employee, and Eric responded by rewriting it and posting, “Scratch it out + you lose your employee meals!” (Defined: Baby, sweetie.)
- Bruh (Defined: Bro, brother, friend.)
- On Fleek (Defined: On point.)
- 0-100 — “Every number in between is acceptable,” Eric wrote. (Defined: How fast someone goes from fine to seriously upset.)
- 3Hunnid (Defined: Three hundred.)
- Guh (Defined: A sound someone makes when they’re annoyed by another person.)
- Chill — “Unless we are talking about something that is chilled,” Eric wrote. (Defined: Calm down.)
- Cuz — “This goes for cousin and because. Say the actual word,” Eric wrote. (Defined: Cousin, friend.)
- Ebola — “Stop accusing people of having Ebola,” Eric wrote. (Defined: New disease getting a lot of press.)
- Fool (Defined: Crazy person.)
- About a week ago — “Unless we’re talking about what happened a week ago, but there will be no singing or dancing to go along with that phrase,” Eric wrote. (Defined: Lyrics from a popular song.)
- Anything with “or naw” (Defined: Lyrics from a popular song.)
- Felicia — “There is nobody here named Felicia,” Eric wrote. (Defined: A great girl or an amazing friend.)
- Boy/Girl Bye (Defined: What you say when you want someone to leave.)
- Salty (Defined: Pissed or upset.)
- Ratchet (Defined: A diva from an urban city or ghetto.)
- Childish (Defined: To act like a child.)
- Turn up (Defined: Acting out, being wild.)
- Barely — “Say it without the weird voice,” Eric wrote. (Defined: Lyrics from a popular song.)
- I’m legally blind — “No you are not,” Eric wrote. (Defined: Reference to a popular viral video.)
- P.O.P. Hold it Dine (Defined: Reference to the same viral video.)
- Fam (Defined: Family or close friends.)
From the get-go, this was clearly a case of one manager going rogue — and not a reflection of some overarching communication Chick-fil-A policy.
The restaurant chain has had a little fun with the claim, however.
Shortly after the list was posted, Chick-fil-A responded with the following tweet:
Chick-fil-A, Inc. doesn’t have a banned words list, but the Cows do. “@EatMorChikin: We hav a bannd werd list: burgerz, beef and ayngus.”
— Chick-fil-A, Inc. (@ChickfilA) November 11, 2014
