Bugaboo #1
I hate it when people confuse the employment dimensions of part-time/full-time and temporary/permanent. Part-time and full-time refer to how many hours a week you work. Temporary and permanent refer to the longevity of your job — usually in terms of a short-term contract (temporary) or a no-endpoint position (you will only leave when you quit, are fired, or retire).
Believe it or not, I see this mistake all the time, even in job listings. I see "part-time" jobs listed that are actually full-time temporary, and I hear people say their job is "full time" because they are permanent (even if they work only 25 hours a week).
Thus, to be clear, the cross-dimentional matrix is like this:
- Part-time temporary means you’re working less than 35 hours per week on a contract with a known end date. It also probably means you’re poor and desperate.
- Part-time permanent means you’re working less than 35 hours per week but you are a full-fledged employee with no set "expiry date."
- Full-time temporary means you’re working 35 or more hours per week on a contract with a known end date. This is the most common arrangement for contractors. Remember the mantra: full-time temporary!
- Full-time permanent means you’re fucked. You’re doomed to waste your life in some unfulfilling office job only to be turfed out in your prime because of downsizing — or worse, kept on until you are old and lonely and useless and then given the boot with a ceremonial gold-plated watch. (But I digress…)
Bugaboo #2
I hate it when people who work on document design confuse headers and headings. No real designer would make that mistake, but people who include some elements of document design in their host of word- and biblio-smithing responsibilities (such as me)– often get them mixed up (although I never do).
For those who are unsure, the header is the line of text at the top of the page of a printed book. It echoes the name of the book, or the chapter or section name. Headers share their duty with footers, which appear at the bottom of the page. Headings, on the other hand, are the titles that introduce sections of a book. Headings are used hierarchically (levels 1, 2, and 3) to help the reader understand the organization of the book.
Bugaboo # 3
Why do people use the automatic date field in Microsoft Word documents? That’s the thing that automatically updates to the current date whenever you open the document. When I open a memo, or a press release, or any other document, I want to see when it was written or last updated, not today’s date! If I want today’s date I’ll look at a calendar!
Bugaboo # 4
I really hate it when people say (or write) "wallah" when they mean "voilà ." (What, you haven’t seen this?) It usually goes along the lines of "then you bake it for an hour and wallah! Dinner’s ready!"
This is unspeakably lame. If you know it’s "voilà " then that’s how you should spell it. If you don’t know it’s "voilà " then what the heck do you think you’re saying? Some kind of made-up conjuring word? Something out of "Lord of the Rings" or "The Flintstones?" (I’ve also seen "walah," "wolla," and "walla.")