People reveal 24 passive-aggressive phrases used in professional settings and they are spot on

One of the main unspoken rules of the professional sphere is the universal understanding that one is expected to be at their utmost courteous behavior at all times. Irrespective of the field you work in—be it a corporate office or the service industry—and how you behave in your personal life, a certain amount of politeness and mutual respect is to be maintained while dealing with others. No matter how angry something or someone might make you, losing your temper is simply not an option. So, how does express their frustration? By coating one's emotions in thick professional jargon that convey the intended tone and message without putting them at risk of losing their job.

While this passive-aggressive behavior has seeped into the very fiber of professional conduct and is rarely acknowledged for what it is, writer Delia Paunescu shined a bright light upon this phenomenon in a now-viral tweet. "I've recently become obsessed with all the insane corporate ways we say normal things to each other. 'I'm a little confused" is by far my favorite - it's absolute rage masked as a professional pleasantry," she tweeted. Paunescu also asked her followers to share their "most insufferable work gibberish phrases" and the responses flooded in like a dam had been opened.

With over 92k likes and more than 14k retweets, the tweet exploded online as it seemed to have hit a sore spot with anyone who's ever worked in a professional setting. People shared what seems to be every example of corporate pleasantries in use, explaining how they are used to mask anger or frustration. Be warned, there might be a few here that you tend to use regularly without realizing their secret meanings—I myself learned that signing an email with "regards" might not be the best practice—so tread carefully.

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"Stealing from somewhere but it’s true: 'I hope this helps!' = never ask me for anything ever again." — @wolfingtongang

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"'Just want to make sure everyone is on the same page' =  y'all are sh*t talking behind each other's backs constantly and I think you're both a**holes." — @baddestmamajama

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"My personal favorite is the Sh*t Sandwich; Positive/'Sh*t'/Positive. 'Hey Karen, thank you for the great work you did on those spread sheets! The formatting was a little hard to read and we need to look over the last couple lines. Your outfit today though? On POINT.'" — @givdesigns

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"'I'm sorry, I was on mute, can you repeat the question?' = I wasn't listening at all." — @HannahMulford

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"Two from this very morning: 'Thanks for looping me in' = You should've come to me 27 emails ago and I would've saved you 26 emails, dummy. 'In future, please [do X different thing]' = In future we won't be interacting because you're dead to me." — @lasrina

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"'I recall this quite differently,' is how I call someone a bald, two-faced liar and snake." — @themelaniedione

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"'We're going to have to table this conversation for now.' We're literally never going to discuss this again." — @AhmadChildress

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"'Please copy everyone on our team' because you keep sending work requests to me alone on my day off." — @bernip