(Put It on the Back Burner is an annoying business term and is just one of the 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse detailed in the hilarious must-have guide for every workplace: The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Available right now on Amazon.)

Put It on the Back Burner

Back-to-back sayings that essentially mean the same thing? Yep… makes you feel kind of blessed, doesn’t it?

Even with the influx of cooking (and eating) shows on cable, Netflix, and the interwebs, there’s no excuse for sending anything to any other burner in your workplace. Unless, of course, your workplace is a restaurant or food truck.

While the annoying put a pin in it tries to convey that an issue is important enough to discuss later (just not right now), this one tells you your issue is a nonissue; worthless; fuhgeddaboudit; put it on the back burner.

Of course, the annoying manager who utters this one cannot cook and has no idea that some part of tonight’s dinner – an important part, though one that doesn’t need constant attention – just needs to be moved to the back burner for now (somewhere other than the front burner where the cook’s real attention is required).

This and its overuse are the reasons put it on the back burner is annoying.

If you feel something is unworthy of attention, just say so. Telling someone they should put it on the back burner is a cop-out; it’s lazy; it’s weak. Step up and be a leader. We guarantee you’ll earn more respect than you will living the milquetoast existence you enjoy today.

Replacement phrases: Drop it

See also: Put a Pin in It

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The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room is available on Amazon