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I don’t know about you, but I get really annoyed when I speak to someone and they, instead of listening to me, type a text message or do something else that might be deemed as multi-tasking but actually is doing both things half-heartedly.

I also see parents out with their kids and instead of giving them their full attention they are on Facebook or Twitter. Or teens who seem to never look up from their devices. And I think it’s undeniably rude when someone at work is engrossed in his or her phone when you’re trying to have a conversation. I think kids, friends and colleagues deserve our full attention.

But it’s not just me; science backs this up to.  Some of the dangers of multitasking: 

• It decreases your ability to think creatively. Being creative is a higher function task, and if your attention is divided among many tasks, you literally won’t have the brainpower to see and identify creative solutions to problems.
• It lowers your ability to filter out irrelevant information.  Studies have shown that if a news program shows crawling text at the bottom with other headlines or sport scores, viewers have a more difficult time remembering what the newscaster was saying. The same is obviously true if you’re listening to your boss while checking your Twitter feed.

These phrases carry special power: they have an uncanny ability to make you look bad even when the words are true.

Worst of all, there’s no taking them back once they slip out.

I’m not talking about shocking slips of the tongue, off-color jokes, or politically incorrect faux pas. These aren’t the only ways to make yourself look bad.

Often it’s the subtle remarks—the ones that paint us as incompetent and unconfident—that do the most damage.

No matter how talented you are or what you’ve accomplished, there are certain phrases that instantly change the way people see you and can forever cast you in a negative light. These phrases are so loaded with negative implications that they undermine careers in short order.

How many of these career killers have you heard around the office lately?

1. “It’s not fair”

Everyone knows that life isn’t fair. Saying it’s not fair suggests that you think life is supposed to be fair, which makes you look immature and naïve.

If you don’t want to make yourself look bad, you need to stick to the facts, stay constructive, and leave your interpretation out of it. For instance, you could say, “I noticed that you assigned Ann that big project I was hoping for. Would you mind telling me what went into that decision? I’d like to know why you thought I wasn’t a good fit, so that I can work on improving those skills.”

2. “This is the way it’s always been done”

Technology-fueled change is happening so fast that even a six-month-old process could be outdated. Saying this is the way it’s always been done not only makes you sound lazy and resistant to change, but it could make your boss wonder why you haven’t tried to improve things on your own. If you really are doing things the way they’ve always been done, there’s almost certainly a better way.

3. “No problem”

When someone asks you to do something or thanks you for doing something, and you tell them no problem, you’re implying that their request should have been a problem. This makes people feel as though they’ve imposed upon you.

What you want to do instead is to show people that you’re happy to do your job. Say something like “It was my pleasure” or “I’ll be happy to take care of that.” It’s a subtle difference in language, but one that has a huge impact on people.

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