(no subject)

In one of the staff canteens:

Security Guard carrying sub-machine gun: Excuse me, there was a list on the wall over there of the opening times of all the coffee shops on the estate, and I asked if it could be reserved for me when it got taken down. Do you know if anyone put it aside? No? Oh.

webofevil: You’d have thought a request made by a man with a gun would have carried more weight.

Security Guard: Mm. Where I’m going wrong is I’m being too polite.

(no subject)

The coroner at the inquests into the 52 deaths at the London suicide bombings accused emergency services chiefs of using too much jargon, adding that frontline workers might not understand the "management speak" used or the role of a counterpart at an emergency scene.

Lady Justice Hallett unleashed her frustration at Gary Reason, the assistant commissioner of London Fire Brigade, on the final day of evidence, after five months of daily sittings and hearing from more than 300 witnesses, referring to the consistent use of "management speak" throughout the inquest.

On the term "conference demountable unit", used to describe a portable incident room, she said: "As far as I can tell, management jargon is taking over organisations and perfectly sensible, straightforward titles are being changed.

"This isn't just somebody being pedantic about the use of English, which it appears to be… when it comes to managing incidents, people don't understand what the other person is. I don't know whether a crew manager is somebody who is responsible for supplies or is used to fighting fires. I have no idea."

Clarity was key when crews were trying to establish events and authority at a disaster scene, added Hallett, who is the assistant deputy coroner for inner west London district. "What worries me is all you senior people of these organisations are allowing yourselves to be taken over by management jargon and… I just think that you people at the top need to say, we have to communicate with people in plain English."

She added: "I'm sorry if that sounded like a rant but everybody who has been here for the last few months will know I've been building up to it." [Guardian]