You're listening to ESLPod.com's using English at work, Lesson 7.
I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillan from the Center for Educational Development, your host for this course.
In the sixth lesson of using English at work, we learned vocabulary that is used when we're having computer problems.
In Lesson 7, we're going to learn how to schedule a work-related meeting in English.
We'll get started by listening to our story at a slow speed.
At 3 pm, I get a call from one of our vendors who wants to set up a meeting for the following week.
As I was away from my desk at the time, she left a voicemail message.
When I get back to my desk, I retrieve the message and listen to it and then return her call.
I call her twice, but she isn't there, so I leave a voicemail message for her.
We're playing phone tag.
Finally, at 4 pm, she calls again and since I am at my desk, we can talk at last.
Andrea asks me if it is possible for us to meet early in the week next week.
I check my calendar and tell her that I'm tied up Monday and Tuesday, but that I'm free Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.
She says that Wednesday afternoon suits her and asks what time would be good for me.
I tell her the earlier the better, since I will be entertaining clients that night and need to leave work a little early that day.
She suggests 1 pm. I check my schedule again to confirm that 1 pm Wednesday is free and clear and it is.
She says that she will send me an email Wednesday morning as a reminder and I thank her.
After all of that back and forth, we finally have a meeting set for next week.
When this part of my day begins, it is 3 pm and I get a call from one of our vendors.
A vendor is a company that sells a specific type of product to other companies.
Most companies have vendors for computer products, office supplies, maybe photocopy machines and many other things, whatever that company needs to buy from another business.
The vendor who calls me wants to set up a meeting for the following week.
To set up a meeting means to schedule or arrange a meeting or to find a time when two or more people are available to meet.
You might set up a time to have lunch with a friend or meet someone to fix your broken sink in your house.
The vendor called to set up a meeting with me for the following or next week.
Since I was away from my desk at the time that she called, she left a voicemail message to be away from your desk means not to be in your office, maybe because you are having another meeting or you are taking a break.
Because I was away from my desk, I wasn't able to answer my phone when it rang, so the vendor left me a voicemail message.
When I get back to my desk or return to my office, I retrieve the message and listen to it.
To retrieve means to get something, especially when we are talking about information that was stored on a computer or in this case in a voicemail system.
To retrieve a voicemail message, I have to call the voicemail system, enter my pin or personal identification number, and then I can listen to the recorded message.
Sometimes when you call someone in an office and they don't answer their phone, you may hear a message like this.
I'm away from my desk right now.
Please leave a message and I'll return your call when I get back.
That's a very common outgoing message.
Outgoing here means that's what people will hear when they call you.
After listening to the vendor's message then, I return her call.
To return someone's call means to call someone back on the telephone after he or she has called you and left a message.
When people leave a message, they usually give their name, their telephone number, and the time they called.
I call the vendor twice, but she isn't there, meaning that she isn't answering her phone.
So I leave a voicemail message for her.
Now we're playing something we call phone tag.
To play phone tag means that two people are exchanging voicemail messages, but aren't able to actually speak to each other.
For example, I start by calling you, but you don't answer your phone, so I leave you a message, a voicemail message.
Then when you get the message, you call me, but I don't answer the phone, so you leave me a message.
If we are both busy people, I'm not, but you probably are, we might continue to do this for a long time.
And this is what we call plane phone tag.
Tag T-A-G is a game that children play when one person is touched by another person and they become what we call it.
You say, you're it, and then that child has to run and touch someone else, and that person becomes it, and you don't want to be it.
I don't know why we say it, but that's the word we use.
Getting back to our story.
Fortunately, I don't have to play phone tag with the vendor for very long.
At 4 p.m., she calls me again, and because this time, I'm at my desk or in my office, we can talk at last or finally.
Andrea, who works for the vendor, asks me if it is possible for us to meet early in the week next week.
The phrase early in the week usually means Monday or Tuesday, maybe Wednesday.
The phrase late in the week usually means Thursday or Friday.
The middle of the week or midweek usually means Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
So someone may call you and say, let's meet late next week.
They mean Thursday or Friday.
Or let's meet next week in the middle of the week, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
Before responding to her question, I check my calendar.
A calendar is a schedule of the days and months of the year.
It's also a person's personal schedule or list of when you are available to meet with someone and when you are busy, when you have other things going on or happening.
I check my calendar to see whether I am available to meet early in the week next week.
And I tell Andrea that I'm tied up Monday and Tuesday.
To be tied up here means to be busy or occupied and therefore unable to meet at a certain time.
In other words, I'm tied up on Monday and Tuesday because I have other appointments those days.
So I cannot meet with her then.
If your friend asks you if you want to play basketball on Saturday and you're working that day, you would say, I'm sorry, I'm tied up on Saturday.
I can't join you. But if I tell my friend that I'm free on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday afternoon, then you're saying that you have time to meet during those particular days.
So free is the opposite of being tied up.
If you're free, you have time.
If you're tied up, you have something else on your schedule.
Andrea says that Wednesday afternoon suits her.
I tell her that I am free on Wednesday afternoon.
To suit someone means to be convenient for someone or not to create problems for someone.
When Andrea says that Wednesday afternoon suits her, she means that she is available to meet with me on Wednesday afternoon.
To suit someone can also be used more generally to mean that it's okay or it's acceptable to someone.
For example, if your husband or wife asks you if you want to go on vacation to beautiful Los Angeles, California, you might say that suits me, meaning that you like the idea.
It is acceptable to you.
Then Andrea asks me what time would be good for me?
This is her way of asking me what time I would like to meet.
I tell her the earlier the better.
The phrase the earlier the better means the sooner the better or as early as possible.
I want to meet in the afternoon, not in the late afternoon.
The late afternoon would be after three or four o'clock.
I'm asking to meet in the early afternoon.
In fact, the earlier the better.
I explain that the reason meeting earlier is better for me is that I'll be entertaining clients that night and I need to leave work a little early that day.
To entertain clients means to take important customers for your business to dinner or perhaps to a play or some entertainment.
This is supposed to improve their relationship with your company or your relationship with them.
The managers are given a certain amount of money to entertain clients, taking them out for lunch or dinner, especially if they work in sales.
Since I have to entertain clients on Wednesday night, I need to leave the office early that day and that's why I would prefer to meet with Andrea earlier in the afternoon.
Andrea suggests 1 p.m. I check my schedule again, meaning that I look at my calendar to confirm that 1 p.m.
on Wednesday is free and clear.
To confirm means to verify something or to say that something is correct or true based on the information that you have.
We often confirm appointments to make sure that the people were supposed to have a meeting with still have time to meet with us.
Doctors and dentist offices usually call their patients to confirm their appointments to make sure that they will be coming at the schedule time, often calling the day before, for example.
When I say I'm free and clear, that's just another way of saying I am open.
I don't have any meetings or other obligations during that time.
I'm looking at my calendar to confirm or check that 1 p.m.
on Wednesday is free and clear.
It is free and clear, so Andrea and I agree to meet at 1 o'clock on that day.
Andrea says that she will send me an email Wednesday morning as a reminder.
A reminder is something that is said or written so that the other person doesn't forget about something important.
So when the dentist or doctor's office calls you to confirm your appointment, they're really giving you a reminder.
Andrea doesn't want me to forget our meeting, so she's going to send me an email as a reminder.
Many people write notes for themselves, for example, as reminders of the things they need to do.
I think Andrea for offering to send a reminder, after all of that back and forth, we finally have a meeting set for next week.
Back and forth is a conversation where two people alternate in speaking, first I speak, then you speak, and so on and so on.
We usually use this expression when there is a long conversation or we need to negotiate something.
In this case, we're trying to find the best time that will be good for both of us.
So we go back and forth. I say something, she says a date, I say no, how about that date?
She says no, how about this date and so forth.
Andrea and I have been going back and forth looking at our calendars, trying to find a time when we can both meet.
Finally we have a meeting set for next week.
That's a good example of how meetings are scheduled at work in the US.
Now that we've talked about this part of my work day, let's listen again as I describe how we scheduled the meeting this time when I'm speaking at a normal pace.
At 3pm I get a call from one of our vendors who wants to set up a meeting for the following week.
Since I was away from my desk at the time, she left a voicemail message.
When I get back to my desk, I retrieve the message and listen to it and then return her call.
I call her twice, but she isn't there, so I leave a voicemail message for her.
We're playing phone tag.
Finally at 4pm she calls again and since I am at my desk, we can talk at last.
Andrea asks me if it is possible for us to meet early in the week next week.
I check my calendar and tell her that I'm tied up Monday and Tuesday, but that I'm free Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.
She says that Wednesday afternoon suits her and asks what time would be good for me.
I tell her the earlier the better since I will be entertaining clients that night and need to leave work a little early that day.
She suggests 1pm. I check my schedule again to confirm that 1pm Wednesday is free and clear and it is.
She says that she will send me an email Wednesday morning as a reminder and I thank her.
After all of that back and forth, we finally have a meeting set for next week.
I hope that listening to me schedule a meeting with Andrea has taught you some new vocabulary that you can use in your own job the next time you need to set up a meeting.
In our next lesson, lesson 8, I'm going to talk about a meeting with my boss.
This course has been a production of the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at pslpod.com.
This course was produced by Dr.
Jeff McQuillan and Dr. Lucy Say.
Happy Right 2008.
