PassiveAggressiveNotes.com » message to all intended for one

From the Manager’s Book of Quotes for Inspiring Workplace Paranoia

Kerry — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:59:38 +0000

Writes our submitter in Madison, Wisconsin: “This note appeared in the staff bathrooms the day after a meeting I had with my boss…a meeting that included some discussion about how large parts of my day involve looking for things to do. So…I guess I’m ‘uninteresting’?”

Another air freshener fracas

Kerry — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 23:32:27 +0000

“My supervisor posted this notice in the ladies’ restroom in the lobby of our office,” says our submitter in Louisiana, “but it was directed solely at me.” (One of the more vocal anti-air freshener employees on staff, our submitter’s desk happens to be located immediately outside the restroom.)

Despite the fact that, as our submitter put it, “that Summer Breeze crap smells like a giant migraine,” her boss declared that “Lemon Peel is a ‘masculine scent’ more suited for the men’s room.” Adds our submitter: “I still haven’t figured out the identities of all these people who are lamenting the absence of the Summer Breeze.”

extra credit: “How ‘fresh’ is air freshener?” [Time.com]

Can you hack it?

Kerry — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:50:52 +0000

Writes our submitter in Sydney, Australia: “There’s one guy in our office who comes from a cultural background where a good hearty cough/hack/spit is de rigueur, and he brings that little bit of culture to the office with him. I find it amusing, but apparently not everyone feels the same way.”

But wait, there’s more! Within a few hours of spotting the first note in the office men’s room, our submitter noticed a second one had joined it.

Now if I only I could snap my fingers and get Mr. or Ms. Water-Cooler Wee-Wee transferred to this office…

related: What is up with the coughing?!

Bad dog! Stop that! Right now!

Kerry — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:16:40 +0000

When I read this landlord’s note…

…this is roughly the image that came to mind:

Anyone else?

So this is your NON-vulgar side? Shut the front door!

Kerry — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:00:17 +0000

Sorry, I meant back door. I’m gonna slowly back away now, ma’am…

related: Dear lovely ladies

Memo to all employees (including specifically you)

Kerry — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 21:26:43 +0000

Taylor in Tulsa, Oklahoma works — well, worked — at the front desk of a hotel. “When I started this job,” he says, “we were told we could eat in the back office so that if it got too busy we could stop our lunch and help out, but apparently my offensive burrito was over the top.” Taylor swears the dirty dishes weren’t his, but he was laid off anyway — after which, he adds, “the note was promptly removed.”

(“Outback,” by the way, refers to the employee dining area, not the steakhouse known for its “delicious” bread.)

Meanwhile, at a small office in Canada, our submitter says one of the company’s directors has a similar habit of sending out a pedantic “just FYI”-type memo to the entire staff each time she has run-in with another co-worker. (And yes, our submitter says, they’re always in Comic Sans.)

Please clean ALL your feathers.

Kerry — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:00:53 +0000

Paul in New York City has no idea what inspired this peculiar sign in his building’s laundry room…

If only he had attended the building meeting, where the offending neighbor offered his response…

We live in a nice community with nice neighbors (before you started posting notes)

Kerry — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:36:07 +0000

Chris found this not-so-nice note in the laundry room of his nice townhouse complex. What’s interesting here is how the author seems to undermine his or her own logic. (As Chris put it, “I know it’s really pathetic to steal a dryer sheet and a quarter, but really, is it that big of a deal?”)

If it’s not about the 25 cents, but rather, the principle of the thing, well…which is worse? To take a quarter from an empty laundry room, knowing that one of your neighbors left it there? Or to post a dick-ish anonymous note for all to see…instead of, say, keeping your damn quarters in your pocket like everybody else?

“Really, Honey. Take your time!”

Kerry — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 05:01:38 +0000

Gail in Pennsylvania says the Ann Taylor Loft store at her local mall has a small table stocked with paper and crayons — “an offering to the busy mother who has been forced to bring her pesky little children along for a shopping trip.”

When she took a closer look at the table’s scribblings, however, she had to chuckle at the sitcom-like image of a grown man stuffed into one those kiddie-sized chairs. Adds Gail: “I wonder if Greg’s wife ever saw her wonderful husband’s little PA note to the world? Well, here’s her chance!”

Frig you, ya big goof

Kerry — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:26:48 +0000

This note, from Michelle in Denver, displays the remarkable lengths that some people will go to avoid confrontation.

“And this bright-green gem wasn’t the only priceless thing visible,” Michelle says. “On the cubicle wall closest to the refrigerators was a camera…and it was actually connected to the computer and recording a live feed. This is why you don’t steal from the fridge when you work for a multimedia corporation!”

related: ABP on the V8

More crooked chiropractors

Kerry — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:21:28 +0000

My favorite part of this landlord-chiropractor dispute in Brooklyn is the (professionally printed?) “tenant snuck out over the weekend” sign. How long has this landlord had that one in reserve?

Meanwhile, Dan in Dallas received this direct-mail don’t from a doc he’s dubbed “Dmitri the chiropractor.”

related: spinal manipulation

Not to name names, but…

Kerry — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:07:11 +0000

World-renowned troublemaker Troy McClure forwards this e-mail from his department’s secretary in Sydney, Australia.

No big deal, you say? Take a second look at the addressee list. (Yes, JONATHAN, I’m talking to you.)

Adio, amigo

kerry — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:55:27 +0000

Our anonymous submitter saw this note posted on the door to the walk-in cooler at a convenience store in Boerne, Texas. “The clerk told me that the Red Bull delivery guy had been drinking Red Bull and leaving the empty cans on the floor of the walk-in,” our submitter says. “In her words, ‘he was knockin’ himself off!’”

(the full scene)

No money, no trophy

Kerry — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:45:34 +0000

This exercise in mass shaming is brought to us by Rocky in San Diego, who notes: “These are 5-year-olds playing T-ball.”