At my work I often am calling into hotel switchboards. Recently there has been a phrase that turns up more and more in the upscale hotels. I ask to be connected to an extension and the operator replies, “My pleasure to connect you.”
This disturbs me. Seriously.
First, I know it is a false statement. I know no matter how much cheer they force they’re just doing their job, clocking their time before they go home. So I know full well there’s no pleasure derived from that act.
Secondly, what sick person thinks it is appropriate to have men and women utter to complete strangers that they are deriving pleasure from such an activity. Look, there are a few things which give me pleasure and outside of the act of eating a really delicious meal every single one of them is highly intimate. It is embarrassing and not a little rude for a complete stranger to infer that any action on my part is giving them pleasure. Especially since I know I didn’t just serve them food. That implies I’m being intimate with them.
Seriously, what sick person started this perverted trend? They need to be beaten… wait, no, they’ll like that too much. They need to be refrained from being beaten!
