65
Yes, the ellipsis in this usage should not be used in professional environment.
The only "good" usage of ellipsis in a sentence you're writing1 is to replace etc.
Why one shouldn't use it?
Written communication is subject to interpretation. In a professional environment, you always want your message to be as clear as possible so everyone will get the ...
46
For the non-software developers: As a software developer, you typically write code that exists only on your machine, and then when you think it’s fine, you issue a “pull request”, and someone reviews it, and either asks for changes to be made, or combines it into your company’s product. As long as the ”pull request” isn’t handled, it’s as good as if the work ...
44
You (and your manager) seem to be in urgent need for a proper management process.
What you must do do avoid just the scenario you mentioned:
Have a proper work plan.
Estimate the work before you actually start working on them.
Have a pre-decided acceptance criteria for each and every assignment.
Have scheduled review meetings.
Use a project management tool ...
44
I disagree with the conclusion reached in most of the answers provided so far.
Is the use of ellipsis commonly considered to be unprofessional? Should I ban the three dots from my business communication?
In my opinion, this is a matter of context. Yes, ellipsis just stuck at the end of a sentence, can be an implied rude or unprofessional comment. ...
41
It could help if you step back from the immediate issue and consider the "meta" nature of this. Pull requests are just a symptom.
What you have there is a manager who wants to keep all the power (even such a petty one as reviewing/approving code changes), does not want to delegate, yet can't or won't do the job himself.
This can happen in any aspect of the ...
36
Having your period is part of being a woman and completely normal. There is nothing to be ashamed of. If you feel uncomfortable taking out single pads from your bag bring a small purse that holds your pads in your bag. You can also consider placing a box of pads in the bathroom with a sign that reads
Emergency stock. Help yourself and consider filling it ...
34
Should I quit my job for before signing contract with another employer?
NO.
Rule of Thumb: Do not quit unless you have a written and signed agreement for the next employment.
Any verbal discussion / assurance is not good enough to be held as true. There is no legal credibility of any verbal commitment made by any individual (whether in a personal capacity ...
26
we have to work 6 days a week and ... stay late on top of that
We know from experience that this can end in two ways:
the work schedule returns to "normal values";
the employee leaves.
I know from my workplaces in 19 years. Also, the Internet is full of similar statements.
In a comment you said:
the manager thinks it's all a waste of time. Now we just ...
25
I think small metal boxes are available at most apothecaries to store and carry pads. I use them and they are quite practical.
But, seriously, there's nothing embarrassing in having the period. If a group of grown men are feeling awkward for this reason, it's definitely their problem, not yours
24
How do I, a junior, discuss this issue respectfully with Bob, a senior, in a way that he understands the negative impact of his comment without coming off as "annoying" or "troublesome"?
Silently, in your head while giving him a pointed stare.
Nothing else will achieve your desired outcome of not appearing annoying, troublesome and an eavesdropper prepared ...
19
Ellipses are perfectly fine if used correctly.
If you intend to indicate that you're skipping a bit of verbiage, especially when quoting a speech or a technical reference, they're perfectly acceptable.
For example, if you wanted to point out that there are six different date formats in ISO 8601, and you want to quote the W3c, their page says this:
...
19
If they expect you to quit your job before making you a written offer, it's utter nonsense. You probably don't want to have anything to do with them. Run and keep looking for other opportunities.
17
I personally use a small, decorative travel makeup bag that holds my sanitary supplies and some single-use packs of Advil. I fill it at home and take the whole pouch with me to the restroom, so there's no smuggling supplies from one bag to another or into my hand.
In the fairly unlikely chance that someone even notices what I am carrying, it can easily be ...
14
The problem is bigger that you manager's availability / willingness to review and accept / reject the pull request - if a pull request can be in the queue for 6 months to 1 year, that indicates, the work is not really relevant / useful and the priorities are wrong.
No work, important enough and short enough to be contained in one pull request, will be ...
14
Naturally, people need a bit of time to "get in the zone" of working and some do it by hanging out a bit at the start of the day. Everybody is different. Some people get in the office "ready to roll" so-to-speak, others need a coffee, a bit of time to settle in, or some other "ritual" to get them in the zone. So the first question to ask yourself is whether ...
13
You missed the perfect time spot to get involved when you overheard the conversation. At that point you could have easily expressed discontent with the behaviour of your colleagues. Most of them will not see this as a big issue (taken for itself), so you bringing it up after the fact might feel weird for them and paint you as the annoying feminist no matter ...
13
To answer:
Is the use of ellipsis commonly considered to be unprofessional? Should I ban the three dots from my business communication?
In case of any official / formal written communication, I'd strongly advise against using those.
For a casual quick chat over IM, this may be acceptable, but think this way, if you are at the receiver end, you'd not ...
12
You answered your own question.
I have no team lead or managerial responsibilities.
Until and unless that casual talk is affecting your productivity (loud voices, creating disturbance, unavailable for meeting / discussion etc.), ignore them and carry on with your work.
As clarified in the comments,
If the team is actually losing their work-time in ...
12
Just to add a different perspective - in some cultural contexts, ellipses can be perceived as less rude than periods as the latter could imply curtness or sternness, while the former implies the speaker is making an open-ended suggestion. I have found this to be the case with some (especially older or less technologically savvy) colleagues in some ...
11
This is office politics, stay away from it.
Clearly something is going on and you don't know what it is. It doesn't sound like there is anything to get for you by escalating it - especially as a contractor. Write your concerns to the PM to cover yourself against later blaming, but leave it at that.
The CTO
I'm assuming that the information actually made ...
11
Talk to your office manager to organize sanitary packages for the bathroom. That should include things like disposable tooth brushes, antiseptic mouthwash, pads, toilet disposable wet naps (alternative to dry toilet paper), etc. Having those things in the bathroom is not only a great convenience, but also a subtle way to remind everybody about hygiene.
Now,...
9
As I understand, his behavior is very intentional, and multi-dimensional. You cannot really fix it by yourself without help from a third party.
I think that you should ask for advice from your manager. Make it simple:
Hello (boss). I need some advice from you. The situation is ... (and you describe what you told us).
He might ask you some questions, and ...
9
You could treat them as what they are: Normal hygiene items. Just put a Box on the toilet. I know a lot of people doing that already, in the guest toilet, as well as restaurants/cafes having those available for their guests. If you have female visitors/clients on site, they might appreciate it in a time of an emergency.
Get one of those larger handbags for ...
8
You can have a whole discussion about how to talk to management to get nicer assignments. However, your first responsibility is to protect yourself.
Your colleague is going to get into trouble
He gets paid to work and he's not working. And he's sulking instead of speaking up, which is going to create an unpleasant surprise for a supervisor/manager at some ...
8
I think you need to either add a door, or build a wall in your briefing room.
Ideally the new players would enter and wait in the briefing room, and the previous group could exit through the locker room while the next group are being briefed.
If you can't change the structure to provide an exit that doesn't go through the briefing room to the locker room, ...
8
If you spend a lot of time alone, and do things alone, your colleagues will think that you want to be alone, or that you are anti-social / unsocial / asocial. Either way, they made the right decision and they respect your space.
If you want to fit into the culture and socialize with your colleagues, you need to adopt (at least partially) their way of being /...
8
Nothing, apart from personal aggression (?) in this post stands out as lacking ethics.
Perhaps the situation is due to most of them can be said to be millenials, and I'm older.
This stands out as a primary issue, you've already separated yourself from your team by age without trying. You're making it a me vs them battle, instead of an us vs the problem.
...
7
I (male team lead and acting hiring manager) also find such comments annoying. The last few times somebody said something like this about a female colleague, i only said thing along the lines of: "I for my part appreciate her in the team since she seems smart and able to do the job" - most people got the message and kind of back - pedaled.
The rationale is ...
7
I realized I had been exceptionally ill behaved [...] she approached me out of the blue and told me that I was doing my job incorrectly. And that I had to do the polishing using the tools she does, although said she wasn't going to teach me at that point either. I got defensive and showed her the casting imperfections that I could remove from polishing and ...
6
I agree with the concerns you've mentioned and it's quite understandable that you'd want to address it. Ideally it wouldn't fall to you to do that, but c'est la vie...
One approach that's sometimes useful in addressing problematic behaviour is to frame it in terms of other people's perceptions, not the recipient's motivations:
Hi Bob, I wanted to talk to ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
