Tuesday 7 April 2015

55 From 55 - 2005

55 songs in 55 days - one for every year of my life...so far. 

Something I obviously never experienced during my years working in record shops was corporate jargon, though as a store Manager in a rapidly expanding coffee business, I quickly found myself bombarded from above by all manner of meaningless mumbo-jumbo. This was a company where every thought was encouraged to be of the blue sky variety, wages were ring-fenced, conversations car-parked, staff incentivised, meetings facilitated, changes action-planned, information cascaded, coffees up-sold and cakes on-sold. Goals were achievable, stretch targets attainable, but progression was, ultimately, glass-ceilinged. Oh, and woe betide any person caught thinking inside the box.
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I've been a fan of The Sea and Cake for a very long time, but my absolute favourite Sea and Cake related LP is 2005's 'Who's Your New Professor', nominally a solo album by Sam Prekop, although ¾ of the band contributed towards its making. It's a platter that matters here at Swede Towers.

11 comments:

george said...

That cliched load of old bollocks jargon sends shivers down my spine, bringing back memories of the utter nonsense spouted when I was still a teacher. Not by me, of course. Although I don't know what up-sold and on-sold means.

Anonymous said...

Hehe! Have to hate that bloody jargon, which I'm sure is contributing to the downfall of humanity. Personally, I like tea and cake a bit too much but this is good too.

C said...

Aarghhh! I can relate to that well! In my previous lifetime some of us used to play Buzzword Bingo in meetings. It didn't take long to get a full house. And there were always meetings, of course. If I ever had to go back to it I think I'd probably have to resort to violence...

The years are treating you very kindly, TS. Looking great!

drew said...

Never heard of either Sam Prekop or Sea and Cake before but will be investigating further that is very good.

Anonymous said...

Isn't that Mark Ellen at the top?

The Swede said...

George. If you've ever ordered a coffee, and been asked '..is that medium size?', you've been up-sold. If the server then enquires if you'd like a muffin with your drink and you say yes - you've been on-sold!

Singing Bear. The most annoying thing was that I noticed elements of jargon slipping into my own conversation after a while too!

C. Buzzword Bingo! We played it too! If a word or phrase came up, we had to bite our lips and avoid eye contact in case we burst out laughing!
In 2005 I felt old and haggered, but looking at that photo ten years on, I was actually positively fresh faced! Perhaps in another ten years I'll think the same about how I look now!

Drew. They're well worth checking out.

Singing Bear. The photo was taken in New York and I was mistaken for Robyn Hitchcock on the same trip!

John Medd said...

We need to take this off-line.

The Swede said...

Let's touch base.

Anonymous said...

Meaningless twaddle from administrative automatons sets my teeth on edge. I pity anyone who must have their energy drained by agenda item regarding "stakeholder relationship management" - Yecchh!!

Brian said...

Very well written, swede. Read that entire opener out loud to the Mrs. Thanks for spreading the word on Sea and Cake. You've been posting a lot of music from my old hometown. Love it.

Charity Chic said...

Buzzword Bingo - more affectionately known as Bullshit Bingo round these parts!

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