Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 584, Calling in Sick to Work.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 584.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in In beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to our website at eslpod.com to download a learning guide for this episode.
It will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called Calling in Sick to Work.
It's a dialogue between Peter and Magda about what happens when someone decides they are too sick to go to work.
Let's get started.
I was fed up with work and wanted the day off.
I decided to call in sick.
I wasn't prepared, though, to be peppered with questions.
Hello, this is Peter.
Is this Magda?
Yes, this is Magda.
Hi, Magda.
I won't be coming in today.
I'm not feeling well.
I think I've come down with something.
Hmm, what seems to be the problem?
The problem?
Oh, I've been up all night throwing up, and I feel terrible.
Didn't you have something like this two weeks ago when you called in sick?
Two weeks ago?
No, I had food poisoning two weeks ago.
And what about a month ago when you called in sick?
That was a 24-hour bug.
Didn't you just take a day off from work because of a death in the family?
Yes, I had to go to the funeral.
Uh, I'll be in within the hour.
Peter begins our dialogue by saying that he was fed up with work and wanted the day off.
To be fed up means to be very frustrated with something, to be very tired of doing something.
I am fed up with this TV show.
I don't want to watch it anymore.
I'm tired of it.
I don't want to see it again.
It's used to express extreme frustration, very frustrated.
Well, Peter wants to have the day off, meaning he doesn't want to work today.
Who does?
So he says he decides to call in sick.
To call in sick means to call your boss, your supervisor, and let him or her know that you are ill, you're sick.
Oh, you can't go into work because you don't feel well.
It always helps to sound very sick when you call in sick.
Peter says, I wasn't prepared, though, to be peppered with questions.
To be peppered P-E-P-E-R-E-D with questions means to be asked many, many questions, and usually in a very short period of time.
One question, then another question, then another question.
Peter calls up and he says Hello, this is Peter.
Is this Magda?
And Magda says, Yes, this is Magda.
Peter says, Hi, Magda.
I won't be coming in today.
To come in means to go to a particular place where they are expecting you, usually work.
Is John coming in today?
Meaning, is he going to be here to work?
Is he coming to the office?
Peter says he won't be coming in today.
I'm not feeling well, he says.
When someone says they don't feel well, they mean they're sick.
Perhaps they have a cold, perhaps they have a flu or some other illness.
He says, To come down with something is a phrasal verb that usually means to catch a cold.
You start sneezing, your head hurts.
Maybe you are running a temperature, meaning that the heat of your body is too high.
It can generally mean, however, to become sick, but usually sick with either a cold or a flu.
Not too serious.
There's actually a couple meanings of this verb, to come.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
So, Peter is coming down with something.
It's a nice thing to say if you don't want to be too specific about what your illness is.
Magda says, hmm, what seems to be the problem?
What is wrong with you specifically?
Peter says the problem.
Of course, he's not prepared to answer medical questions from his boss.
He says, oh, I've been up all night throwing up and I feel terrible.
To be up all night means to be awake all night.
What has he been awake doing?
He's been awake throwing up.
To throw up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to vomit V-O-M-I-T, where the contents of your stomach come out and go out your mouth.
I think you understand what I'm saying.
Not a very pleasant thing.
Peter says he feels terrible.
He feels very, very sick.
Magda says, didn't you have something like this two weeks ago when you called in sick?
She's reminding Peter that he was sick only two weeks ago with a similar illness.
Obviously she doesn't believe Peter.
Peter says, two weeks ago?
No, I had food poisoning two weeks ago.
So Peter is saying that he had a different illness two weeks ago.
He had food poisoning.
Food poisoning is when you eat some food that is bad, that makes you sick.
That's food poisoning.
Magda says, what about a month ago when you called in sick?
Four weeks ago, Peter was also sick.
Peter says that was a 24-hour bug B-U-G.
A 24-hour bug bug is an illness that is not very serious, that usually only lasts for a day or so.
Again, we're typically referring to a cold or a flu.
Flu is probably more likely.
A flu bug usually means that your stomach is upset, you have a headache, and so forth.
Magda says Magda's asking Peter if he took a day off from work, meaning a day he did not go into work, usually because you are sick or you have some other important appointment.
Because of a death in the family.
A death in the family, as you probably can guess, means when someone close to you in your family dies.
Your uncle, your aunt, your grandmother.
There's sort of a weird joke in schools if you're a teacher or a student.
The student who doesn't want to go to school will say that they went to their grandmother's funeral.
And sometimes they use this excuse more than twice.
So it's sometimes not the best one to use, especially if your grandmothers have already died two or three times.
Peter says, yes, I had to go to the funeral.
The funeral F-U-N-E-R-A-L is a ceremony, an event that happens when someone dies before their body is put into the ground.
Peter is saying that he had to go to this funeral.
Magda says, I see, I understand.
That's one day off from work a week four times in a row.
In a row, R-O-W, means one after the other, consecutively, without any breaks or gaps.
If the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in baseball, the big championship this year, next year and the year after that, we would say they won three years in a row.
I hope they don't, but in case they do, that's what we would say.
Row has a couple of different meanings in English, however.
You know where to find those in our learning guide.
Well, Magda obviously isn't very happy with Peter.
He knows that she doesn't believe him.
So Peter says, I will be in within the hour, meaning in less than an hour.
Magda jokes with him somewhat and says, I'm glad you've had a miraculous recovery.
Recovery is when you get better from something.
Miraculous is something that is a miracle, something that is impossible physically.
Of course, Magda is joking here about the miraculous recovery that Peter had.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I was fed up with work and wanted the day off.
I decided to call in sick.
I wasn't prepared though to be peppered with questions.
Hello, this is Peter.
Is this Magda?
Yes, this is Magda.
Hi, Magda.
I won't be coming in today.
I'm not feeling well.
I think I've come down with something.
Hmm.
What seems to be the problem?
The problem?
Oh, I've been up all night throwing up and I feel terrible.
Didn't you have something like this two weeks ago when you called in sick?
Two weeks ago?
No, I had food poisoning two weeks ago.
And what about a month ago when you called in sick?
That was a 24-hour bug.
Didn't you just take a day off from work because of a death in the family?
Yes, I had to go to the funeral.
I see.
That's one day off from work a week, four weeks in a row.
I'll be in within the hour.
I'm glad you've had a miraculous recovery.
Good thing our script writer didn't call in sick today.
That would be the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
