Jargon

Overheard at the grocery store yesterday:

“Oh my God, Doug, there you are. We’ve been trying to find you. They need the M-O-D at the service counter, there’s a lady there going absolutely nuts.” I’d been listening to them page the M-O-D for ten minutes, and I’d been watching this guy help bag groceries for five.

“What’s the M-O-D?” he asked.

“Manager on Duty,” said in the snottiest voice she’d talk to her boss in. “That’s you.”

I bet if they’d paged a MANAGER he would have responded. Which makes me think about all the jargon I use on a daily basis. Given that people won’t generally ask for clarification when they don’t understand something because they don’t want to feel stupid, how do I know that they’re on the same page as me?

Best bet might just be to use less jargon.