Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 716, Working Without Supervision.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 716.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpodcom.
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This episode is a dialogue between Veronica and Kyle talking about working without someone watching you, without someone telling you what to do.
Let's get started.
Where's Stan?
He's not here.
When will he be back?
I'm not sure.
He hasn't been here for a couple of days.
A couple of days?
He's supposed to be here overseeing the day-to-day operations.
You're his second-in-command.
Where is he?
I honestly don't know.
He's been MIA since Tuesday.
I come all the way here to talk to him about budget overruns and I find that he's been shirking his responsibilities too.
I have a feeling he's been phoning it in for a long time now.
So have you been covering for him?
Me?
I'm just trying to do my job.
When Stan isn't here, I do my best to fill in.
But I'm not saying anything against Stan.
I appreciate your loyalty, but when push comes to shove, you've got to look out for yourself, right?
Uh, I guess.
I'm not sure.
Well, I do.
I need to look out for my best interests, and that's making sure this place has proper supervision.
How would you like a promotion?
You mean you're firing Stan and giving me his job?
Do you want the job or don't you?
Can I talk to Stan first?
I don't want him to think I'm a backstabber.
You can, if you can find him.
Where's Stan?
Kyle says he's not here.
Veronica says, when will he be back?
When will he return?
Kyle says, I'm not sure.
I don't really know.
He hasn't been here for a couple of days, maybe two days or three days.
Veronica says, a couple of days?
He's supposed to be here overseeing the day-to-day operations.
To oversee means to monitor and supervise, to carefully watch how other people are doing their work, making sure that they are doing it correctly.
It's what a boss does or a supervisor does.
The day-to-day operations are the things that a business does every day repeatedly, or just the normal, regular things that a business, an office or a factory, for example, does in order to keep their business going.
It doesn't refer to long-term planning or coming up with a strategy for the future.
Day-to-day operations are the things that are done on a daily basis, or things that are a normal part of what the business does.
Veronica says to Kyle, you're his second-in-command.
When we say someone is second in command, we're using a military phrase to refer to the person who is in charge.
Who is the leader when the normal leader isn't there?
The person who is below the leader of a group or organization.
Veronica says to Kyle that he is the second in command, but of course Stan, who hasn't been there for a couple of days, is the leader.
Where is he?
Kyle says, I honestly don't know, meaning I really don't know.
He's using that word for emphasis.
He's been MIA since Tuesday.
MIA is another military expression.
There seems to be a lot of military expressions in the business world, meaning missing in action.
It's someone who, in a war, has not been found dead, is not a known prisoner.
They're just missing.
We don't know where they are.
They may be alive.
They may be dead.
In the business world.
In more general conversation, to say someone's MIA means that they're not there.
They're absent.
But we don't know why.
Veronica says So.
Veronica went all out, meaning she probably traveled from another office or another part of town, maybe even another city, in order to talk to Stan about budget overruns.
Budget is a word to describe your plan of how you are going to spend your money, how much money you will make in your business, how much you will spend.
A budget overrun is when you spend more than you planned, when you spend more than you expected to.
Veronica wanted to talk to Stan about budget overruns.
And instead, she finds that Stan has been shirking his responsibilities.
So not only is Stan spending too much money, he's shirking his responsibilities, as To shirk S-H-I-R-K your responsibilities means not to do all the things you are supposed to do.
Not doing your duty.
Duty is another word for responsibilities.
So to shirk your duties or shirk your responsibilities is not to do them.
Veronica says, I have a feeling that Stan has been phoning it in for a long time now.
The expression, to phone it in, means to do something, especially something for work, but without giving it a lot of effort and attention, treating it as though it doesn't really matter very much.
You could say this really about any kind of job or the performance of someone on their job.
They're doing their job, but they're not doing it very well.
They're phoning it in.
The idea is, of course, if you're phoning something in, you're calling someone.
You're not actually there doing what you should be doing.
You're doing it from a distance by simply picking up the telephone, instead of going and doing something.
I guess that's where it probably comes from.
But it means completing a task with very little effort or attention.
Veronica says, meaning stand.
To cover for someone means to do or say something to protect another person, to make sure the other person doesn't get in trouble.
You are covering for them.
Kyle says, When Stan isn't here, I do my best to fill in.
To fill in here means to do the work of someone else or to take someone else's place in doing the work that they normally do.
Kyle says, but I'm not saying anything against Stan.
That is, I'm not criticizing Stan.
Veronica replies, I appreciate, I thank you for your loyalty.
Loyalty L-O-Y-A-L-T-Y is supporting another person or another organization, supporting your family, being faithful to them, protecting them.
That's loyalty.
Veronica says, when push comes to shove, you've got to look out for yourself, right?
Right when push comes to shove means under extreme circumstances, when there is a lot of pressure to do something.
The idea here is that yes, Kyle is loyal and he's protecting Stan, but when the situation becomes more serious or more critical,
Then he has to look out for himself.
He has to protect himself, not Stan.
Kyle says, I guess I'm not sure.
He's not sure he agrees with Veronica.
Veronica says, well, I do.
I need to look out for my best interests, and that's making sure that this place has proper supervision.
To look out for your best interests means to do what is best for you, even if it's negative or has negative consequences for someone else.
Well, Veronica is trying to look out for her own best interests.
She's the boss, so she's responsible for what happens.
And she needs to make sure that this office has proper or appropriate, correct supervision.
Supervision is overseeing, monitoring, and being responsible for a group of people.
Veronica says to Kyle, how would you like a promotion?
A promotion is when you get an increase in responsibilities, an increase in your duties at work.
Usually it means that you get paid more money.
So you used to be a salesperson now.
Now you're the director of sales.
You get a promotion.
Now you are the boss.
Kyle says, you mean you're firing Stan and giving me his job?
To fire here means to tell someone they are no longer working there.
To tell someone they no longer have a job.
To get rid of someone.
Fire has a number of different meanings in English, however.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Veronica says, do you want the job or don't you?
He has to give her an answer right now.
Kyle says, can I talk to Stan first?
I don't want him to think I'm a backstabber.
To stab someone in the back means to take a knife and put it in their back in order to kill them.
So a backstabber is a person who literally stabs someone in the back.
However, we normally don't mean someone who goes and kills someone else.
We mean someone who says things about another person bad things, negative things without that person knowing that you are saying it.
Usually you do this in order to get some sort of benefit for yourself.
So you, for example, tell your boss that the other person working in your department is lazy and doesn't do his job.
You, of course, want to get rid of that person so that you perhaps can get that person's job.
That would be a backstabber.
To do something behind someone's back, which is another way of saying without their knowledge, without them knowing.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Where's Stan?
He's not here.
When will he be back?
I'm not sure.
He hasn't been here for a couple of days.
A couple of days?
He's supposed to be here overseeing the day-to-day operations.
You're his second in command.
Where is he?
I honestly don't know.
He's been MIA since Tuesday.
I come all the way here to talk to him about budget overruns and I find that he's been shirking his responsibilities too.
I have a feeling he's been phoning it in for a long time now.
So have you been covering for him?
Me?
I'm just trying to do my job.
When Stan isn't here, I do my best to fill in.
But I'm not saying anything against Stan.
I appreciate your loyalty, but when push comes to shove, you've got to look out for yourself, right?
Uh, I guess.
I'm not sure.
Well, I do.
I need to look out for my best interests, and that's making sure this place has proper supervision.
How would you like a promotion?
You mean you're firing Stan and giving me his job?
Do you want the job or don't you?
Can I talk to Stan first?
I don't want him to think I'm a backstabber.
You can, if you can find him.
A scriptwriter never shirks her responsibilities.
She's always up to the job.
That's because it's the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
I think she needs a promotion, don't you?
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
