This is the Business English Podcast episode 561.
Do you make mistakes at work?
Five adverbs to articulate what happened.
Welcome to the business english podcast.
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This is Real Business English, with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.
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Hey, Michelle.
How's everything going?
How are you doing?
Yeah, everything is good over here.
How are you?
Good.
What are we talking about today?
Lindsay, when is the last time you accidentally left your phone somewhere?
Well, it happens a lot.
At home, I'll leave it here, leave it there.
But once I had a panic moment in the airport in Denver International Airport, where I was traveling with a lot of luggage.
It was very chaotic.
And I went to the bathroom.
And I thought that I left my phone like on top of the toilet paper thing and I got like gates down, like many gates down.
I was like, oh my God, where's my phone?
I had a total panic.
I sprinted back to the bathroom and then by the time I got back to the bathroom, I noticed it was in my pocket.
Oh.
Oh, such a panic moment, though.
Imagine leaving your phone in the bathroom of an airport.
Not good.
Do you ever look for your phone and you're looking for it and you realize that you're on the phone?
Have you ever done that?
Because I have.
Yeah, I've done things like that.
You're like, I haven't done that, but I don't want to make you feel bad.
Or sunglasses, right?
I can't find my sunglasses.
Gosh, where are they?
They're on your head.
Yeah, yeah.
Um so guys, on All Ears English.
We did an episode a couple weeks ago answering a listener question.
And it was about the words on purpose, intentionally and deliberately.
Um, so this was on Allers English.
If you want to check that one out, it was a Saturday episode.
Um, it was how to intentionally vary your vocabulary.
So guys, if you haven't listened to Allers English, you're really missing out.
Oh my gosh.
Yes.
If you're not even following Allers English, you should be.
So open your search bar right now, wherever you're listening.
Type in All Ears English and the show will come up.
You'll see the yellow.
That is us.
The one and only All Ears English.
Go ahead and hit the follow button right there on that show.
And if you just scroll back a few weeks, maybe like a week back, you'll find that episode.
Okay.
It's very close in our catalog.
Yep.
Okay.
Exactly.
So today we're going to do the opposite, right?
We're going to talk about when things are an accident, basically.
So I asked you about accidentally leaving your phone somewhere.
So let's start with accidentally.
Tell us about this one.
Yeah, this is kind of the most basic, the most accessible, right?
The one we all use.
I feel like from a younger age, we hear this a lot.
It's the opposite of on purpose accessibility.
It's just something that's a mistake and I use it all the time.
I accidentally called the wrong number.
I accidentally delivered her paycheck to the wrong mailbox, right?
Accidents happen.
Mistakes happen.
Right, exactly.
The next one is unintentionally.
So we talked about intentionally on that other episode.
So unintentionally or unintentional.
Very similar.
I didn't you didn't mean to do something.
So we have to be sure we don't unintentionally leave the computers on.
We don't want anyone to see our passwords.
Or I think we unintentionally offended him.
Let's give him a call.
Yeah, this is what scares me.
Like, in the winter uh, space heaters to you know, to make sure you don't unintentionally leave them on at your house.
It scares me a lot yeah, or a heating pad like that like oh yeah no oh, my god, i know Um I, I'm the same.
I also get worried about that stuff.
I have to be very vigilant.
Yes.
And then by mistake, by mistake, also totally acceptable at work, but also used in the world.
Right.
It does sound a little bit more juvenile.
I kind of agree with that.
Um, right.
So let's see how this sounds in a, in a business sentence.
I left my folder in the conference room by mistake, but it just, I think it's okay.
I think it's fine.
Like I just wouldn't use it all the time.
And again guys, that's the point of all these episodes to give you a flavor of different ways to say things, because that's the level where you are.
And Yeah, as long as you're not always like, oh, I did it by mistake.
I didn't make a mistake.
Yeah.
It depends on your tone, right?
Don't be annoying.
Right, right.
Or I called the wrong number by mistake.
Does that ever happen to you, Lindsay?
Sure.
Yeah, that can happen.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Um michelle, when you make a mistake um, when you do something by mistake, are you hard on yourself or are you easy on yourself, or does it depend on the scenario?
I think i guess it depends on what the mistake is.
But yeah, i think, as i've gotten older, i've been, i've become less hard on myself.
I don't know.
I think I don't know.
I would think that's the kind of the trajectory that most people go in, but I'm not sure.
What do you think?
Yeah.
I mean, I think probably kids can be really hard on themselves.
It also kind of depends on personality.
Maybe it goes in the opposite direction.
You become more hard on yourself the older you get.
For me, it depends on like if my mistake is affecting people.
Like at home or friends.
Maybe I, I don't know, like I book tickets for the wrong night for the rodeo or something.
That would be bad, right?
Or like for an Airbnb and then everyone's weekend is ruined.
I'd be really hard on myself. for that because that ruins everyone.
But if it's just ruining my own weekend, like I'd be less hard.
I'd just be like, okay, I'll just go home.
Like, you know, whatever.
Yeah.
So how many people are involved?
Yes.
For sure.
But that's self-compassion.
We got to have it, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
All right.
Carelessly would be another thing we might say.
Yeah, this one's a little bit different, right?
A little more judgmental.
What do you think?
Oh, absolutely.
Because you're, yeah, it's adding a layer of judgment, of a judgment call.
You're saying I was careless, which is different from saying I made a mistake, right?
Right.
It's like I made a mistake, but I cared, shouldn't have made that mistake.
I made it because i wasn't paying attention, i didn't behavior right, so the the emphasis is on that.
The person wasn't thinking, they weren't doing what they needed to be doing, so it's more accusatory right, if you say this about someone like we're going to say here in these examples.
It is definitely accusatory.
So be careful here, guys Right.
Yeah.
This isn't one you can just sub in for the others.
No, no.
Yeah.
She carelessly left the payroll out for everyone to see.
Right.
Yeah.
Or they carelessly forgot all their papers in the office and the janitor threw them away.
Mm hmm.
I do think that is the strongest one in terms of making like a judgment decision.
Like right from wrong or something.
Right.
The other ones are more just, okay, it's a mistake.
I didn't mean to do something.
This one is like, oh, really?
You did that?
And I think this next one's interesting.
Well, this one is definitely the most high level.
I highly recommend our C1 learners, listeners try to use this.
It sounds very articulate, very smart.
Um, but this one, I think, kind of belongs in the first category inadvertently, rather than the judgment call.
Don't you think?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think carelessly is the.
Big one that stands out to me as being one of these things is not like the other, right?
That's the judgy one.
But yeah, I mean, inadvertently means or inadvertent.
It was inadvertent.
You didn't realize it.
It wasn't on purpose, but it is a little more formal sounding than the other ones.
Which is why it could be good for work, right?
Yep.
She inadvertently ignored his attempt to shake her hand because she wasn't looking.
Okay.
Or I inadvertently left my briefcase on the train.
Yes.
All right.
So we have a variety of options here.
But what we're trying to do here is communicate that we just made a mistake.
But you could say it in different ways.
Everyone makes mistakes at work, right?
Yeah.
Hopefully they're not too dire.
Hopefully you're not like deleting a whole database of information or something.
Yeah, it's hard though, because I'm like in some professions, the mistakes that you make are more serious than others.
And, you know, that's that's why I couldn't work in the medical industry.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah, absolutely not.
I don't want to have someone's life in my hands.
I just can't, I can't handle that pressure.
No, no, it's a lot.
So, um, you know, um, but some people, I mean, thank goodness there are people who can handle that.
No one did it.
Yeah.
Thank goodness.
Yeah.
That are great are great in those contexts.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Um, so should we do a role play?
Yeah, let's do it.
So here we're leaving the conference room after a meeting.
Okay.
All right.
So here we go.
I think that went well.
Oh, me too.
I just wish I didn't carelessly lose the internet password.
Oh, don't be so hard on yourself.
It was fine.
Yeah.
Luckily we had a backup.
Oh no.
Who left their phone?
Ooh, that's Tracy's.
She must have left it there by mistake.
I can take it for her.
Last time I accidentally left my phone too.
Did you hear when Kayla inadvertently told us about the raises?
Yes, I couldn't believe that.
It was definitely unintentional.
For sure.
All right.
A lot of unintentional mistakes here.
Yes.
Everyone is just messing everything up.
I mean, life is so messy.
Life is so messy.
There's so many mistakes.
On a daily basis that we make, right?
So, I mean, it's kind of a good sign if we're making mistakes.
We can talk about that in the takeaway a bit.
But if we're making mistakes, we're learning new things, trying new things too, right?
Yep.
So the first one that we used here is that judgment side of things, right?
So I'm saying it about myself.
Me too.
I just wish I didn't carelessly or I wish I hadn't carelessly lost the Internet password.
Right.
Yeah.
Yep.
Exactly.
So, yeah, I am being you're being hard on yourself.
You're judging yourself.
And then I'm making.
You feel better.
Don't be so hard on yourself.
It was fine.
And then we see that someone left their phone and I said she must have left it there here by mistake.
Yep.
And totally fine in a work context by mistake.
Yeah.
Even though we said before, it could sound a little juvenile if you're only if.
I guess the key is it could sound juvenile if that's your only option.
But if you're saying inadvertently accidentally unintentionally, you obviously have a broader vocabulary.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Good.
And then you say, I can take it for last time I accidentally left my phone too.
And I said that really fast in the role play if you guys missed it the first time.
But we say these things quickly.
We're speaking in our normal speed here on the show, guys.
That's right, by the way.
Right, that's right?
Um, and then i changed the subject.
I said did you hear when kayla inadvertently told us about the raises?
So we got some juicy gossip, yeah?
And then i said yes, i couldn't believe that.
It was definitely unintentional and we're just isolating what happened.
And She didn't mean to.
Otherwise, it didn't mean to.
But that also does sound a little a little juvenile.
And that can be more for relationship mistakes.
Like I didn't mean to.
I didn't mean it.
Right.
Yeah.
So another day, another day, another episode, Michelle, for that one.
Exactly, exactly.
So guys, remember to check out that other episode that we told you about on All Ears English, to get the other side.
So again, that was how to intentionally vary your vocabulary.
Yes.
Any final takeaway about, I guess, about mistakes, Michelle, is what today's about.
Everyone makes them.
Don't be too hard on yourself.
And again, really make sure that that word carelessly stands out to you is one you're only using when you're being really judgmental, either to yourself or someone else and, of course, then if we're being judgmental towards someone else, we have to be especially careful and sensitive.
Yeah, and then the other thing i want to say from a work perspective about making mistakes is the importance of owning your mistakes.
So this is going to change if you're someone that's making frequent mistakes at work.
And this does happen when people start in a new position and they might be working closely with their manager on these mistakes.
Fine, you're making mistakes, but how are you responding when the mistake is brought up to your brought to your attention?
Are you saying it was completely my fault?
Here's what I'm doing.
Not just saying it was your fault, but here's what I'm doing to make sure it doesn't happen again.
This is going to mean the difference between keeping your job and potentially losing your job right.
Yeah.
So this could be another episode, Michelle, that I don't think we've done it.
Yeah, how to own up to your mistakes.
Yeah, I don't think we've done that.
So that's kind of taking mistakes to the next level.
So guys, make sure you hit the follow button to get that future episode.
And Michelle, thanks for being on today.
All right, Lindsay, have a great day.
And guys, we'll talk to you soon.
All right, take care.
Bye.
Bye.
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