Tell Us Your Least Favorites: A Spin Sucks Holiday Game

By: Gini Dietrich | June 29, 2017 |

Alright! We have begun a fun trend.

Yesterday, we did the business version of a game I play with my four-year-old, Tell Me Your Favorites.

Now I’d like to turn the table and discuss the things you hate.

Maybe hate is a strong word, but annoying or irritating.

But still…things that are not your favorites, if only to spare others from experiencing the same pain.

Like yesterday, I asked my team to participate and, at the end, I’ll ask you to leave your answers in the comments.

Let’s play, Tell Us Your Least Favorites!

What is the Worst Movie You’ve Ever Seen?

It’s probably not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but we watched Logan a couple of months ago and it was VIOLENT.

Definitely the most violent movie I’ve ever seen—and I’ve seen a lot.

I had to watch it with my eyes closed for more than half.

I don’t really need to see claws ripping off someone’s head.

You can leave it to my imagination.

My team added:

Grease 2
Scary Movie
Eyes Wide Shut
The Postman
Tarzan the Ape Man
The Nightmare Before Christmas

What is the Worst Book You’ve Ever Read?

I did not like The Martian.

It wasn’t the story—that was great, and I loved the movie—but the writing was horrendous.

I spent the entire time rewriting it in my head.

So, it took 10 times longer than normal to read it and I was annoyed.

If you can get past that—or if you’re not as snooty as me—you will love it.

My team added:

S
Eat Pray Love
Girl on the Train
Fifty Shades of Grey (I second this…and yet, I read all three)
Fight Club

There also are several people on my team who just stop reading if they don’t like a book.

Clearly they are smarter than me.

I spend more time with a terrible book, rewriting it in my head.

Which Productivity Tool Does Everyone Love, But You Hate?

I hate Trello and I hate Asana.

We tried Asana a couple of years ago and I just could not bring myself to use it.

And, how can I ask my team to use something if I refuse to use it?

(We switched to Basecamp.)

I also tried Trello. I really, really tried. But it does not fit the way my brain works.

(Now I use Wunderlist.)

My team added:

Outlook
Gmail
Evernote (several votes on this one)
Multi-tasking

I laughed out loud at the first two answers. I mean, really.

What is a Buzzword You Want to Die?

I was in a meeting the other day and the client said, “If I never hear the phrase ‘human capital’ again, I will be happy.”

Amen, brother. Amen.

For me, it’s c-suite.

I used to use it all the time…until a USA Today reporter asked me what it meant.

I figured if she didn’t know what it meant, there are others.

And so I stopped using it.

My team added:

Viral marketing
Viral anything
Guru
Absolutely! I am really tired of people answering everything with “Absolutely!” Stop it, people. You don’t have to respond to everything with “Absolutely!”
“At the end of the day”
“It is what it is”
“Six of one, half dozen of another”
Authentic
Genuine
The misuse of utilization and utilize

What is Your Biggest Pet Peeve?

I have two:

I hate, hate, hate it when someone asks for your advice because of your expertise and then gives you every reason in the book it won’t work. Great. Don’t do it. But also don’t ask for my advice.
I also hate the phrase “we’ve got.” It’s not “we have got”…it’s “we have.” Whenever someone says that—and it’s prevalent in everyday language, headlines, research, and education—it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard.

My team added:

White socks with black shoes
Me, me, me conversations
Stupid people
Lazy people
Socks worn with sandals (we have something about shoes and socks around here)
People who don’t put the dumbbells back in chronological order at the gym (bet you can guess who said that)

What is the Worst Email Automation “Trick” You’ve Seen?

For some reason, someone, somewhere has advised marketers to use this email scenario:

Cold email someone your sales pitch.
When they don’t answer, send them another email along the lines of, “I’m sorry you weren’t able to make our meeting. Can we reschedule?” (There was no original email.)
When they don’t answer that, send them another email along the lines of, “If you’re not the right person in your organization, can you point me to someone else?”
When they don’t answer that, send them the When Harry Met Sally approach: “The fact that you’re not answering leads me to believe you’re either (a) Not at home, (b) Home, but don’t want to talk to me, or (c) Home, desperately want to talk to me, but trapped under something heavy. If it’s either (a) or (c), please call me back.”
And then the creme de la creme…when they don’t answer that, call them names or become aggressive and rude. Because that’s clearly a great sales technique.

I do not know why marketers use this approach. Maybe it does work, but I find it abhorrent.

My team added:

HubSpot asking me to pay $3K to take advantage of their tools.
Before you check out, here is a fantastic opportunity! Pay xxx more and get…
The fake personalized invite, which happens a lot in politics

Several people said they just ignore them. Again, smarter than me.

Tell Us Your Least Favorites

Now it’s your turn!

We’d love to hear your least favorites in the comments here.

To make it easy, here are the questions:

What is the worst movie you’ve ever seen?
What is the worst book you’ve ever read?
Which productivity tool does everyone love, but you hate?
What is a buzzword you want to die?
What is your biggest pet peeve?
What is the worst email automation “trick” you’ve seen?

Misery loves company…let’s hear ’em!

About Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich is the founder, CEO, and author of Spin Sucks, host of the Spin Sucks podcast, and author of Spin Sucks (the book). She also has run, built, and grown an agency for the past 14 years. She is co-author of Marketing in the Round, co-host of Inside PR, and co-host of The Agency Leadership podcast.