if "let's talk when you get a minute" is spooky, then you have other problems. In a normal environment, that phrase simply means "hey, I need some time, nothing urgent just need to talk about something". If brings dread to your day, then the job is not working out the way it should. You're in a toxic environment and need to extract yourself from it.
If your workplace has common toxic symbols (e.g. the HR folks bought some pink envelopes), then you need to avoid them in your day-to-day unless you are trying to signal an abandon ship to your folks.
On a weird sidenote, if you commonly phrase things the same way, then don't decide to be different and change for change's sake. Consistent and predicable are gifts to anyone you manage. Variety is the spice of life, but consistency gets you better service.z
Monitoring language for signalling is the warning flag.
I dislike that phrase because it gives me no context. Does my manager want to talk about a specific project? A team change? A goal change? An issue? Does he want to chat about a new marathon he wants to run?
Give me context. If you want to chat for twenty minutes just to catch up, then that's fine but just tell me.
So you want every communication with you to have full context? Perhaps the manager needs a couple of things and wants to be respectful of your schedule. They might not know the full extent of the conversation yet. If you work in an environment where full context is necessary to combat paranoia then there are other problems. If you need to have every conversation be formal then don't expect to be the first person a manager talks to when they are thinking about things.
Any manager who sends that message is an idiot. They are going to have an HR rep with them and tap you on the shoulder to go into a conference room. The whole idea of an environment that could be that bad is way worse than any message you could receive.
Frankly, someone disturbing my flow by adding information that I don't need now and making me subconsciously think about something new is now respecting my work.
If your workplace has common toxic symbols (e.g. the HR folks bought some pink envelopes), then you need to avoid them in your day-to-day unless you are trying to signal an abandon ship to your folks.
On a weird sidenote, if you commonly phrase things the same way, then don't decide to be different and change for change's sake. Consistent and predicable are gifts to anyone you manage. Variety is the spice of life, but consistency gets you better service.z
Monitoring language for signalling is the warning flag.