Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 328, Dishonesty at Work.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 328.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development.
Thank you.
Each episode of ESL Podcast comes with an 8-10 page learning guide that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, cultural notes, comprehension questions and a complete transcript of this episode.
This episode is called Dishonesty at Work.
Dishonesty is someone who is not honest, who lies at work.
We'll listen to a dialogue between Shane and Amina over some problems with one of the employees at work.
Let's get started.
Have you heard the latest news?
No.
What is it?
Charlie was fired last Friday after the company found out that he had been cooking the books for over six months and had embezzled more than 50000.
Charlie?
I don't believe it.
He is the most upstanding person I know.
I can imagine him stretching the truth now and then, but he's the last person I would think of as being truly dishonest.
I would never think to question his integrity.
It wasn't greed that made him do it.
His wife has been ill and he couldn't pay the medical bills.
I think he had the best of intentions in trying to get his wife the health care she needed, but it was only a matter of time before he got caught, no matter how well he covered his tracks.
Well, I know he's a bad liar and he's not known to make mistakes, so I'm not surprised that someone caught on pretty quickly when there were irregularities in the accounting.
What I don't understand is, if he was having financial problems, why didn't he tell anybody?
Some of us may have helped.
I don't know.
Maybe he felt desperate and just didn't know what to do.
I'm sure his wife being sick has been difficult for him.
I don't think the company is going to press charges, though, under the circumstances.
I'm glad to hear that.
That's the last thing he needs.
It's clear that he showed poor judgment.
But he's not a criminal.
That's the general consensus.
I'm thinking of taking up a collection to help him out.
Do you think the company would mind?
Considering he was fired, I'd keep it a secret from management.
But I think it's a great idea.
Our dialogue begins with Amina asking Shane, Have you heard the latest news?
The most recent news?
Shane says, No.
What is it?
Amina answers.
Charlie was fired last Friday after the company found out that he had been cooking the books for over six months.
Charlie was fired.
He lost his job.
The company told him to leave because they discovered that he had been cooking the books.
To cook the books means to change financial information so that it is no longer true to lie when it comes to how much money you are making or how much money you are paying.
This is illegal, for tax purposes especially, and that is, of course, not a good thing.
Charlie had embezzled more than $50,000.
To embezzle E-M-B-E-Z-Z-L-E means to steal money from the company where you work or from an organization.
Usually you do this, of course.
Well, you don't usually do this, of course, but if you did, you would do it secretly or privately.
And then, if you're discovered well, you'll lose your job and perhaps something worse will happen to you.
So Charlie has embezzled $50,000, stole $50,000.
Shane says, Charlie, I don't believe it.
He's the most upstanding person I know.
To be upstanding, one word, means to be honest and good, to be respectable.
People have a good opinion of you.
I can imagine him, Shane says, stretching the truth now and then.
To stretch the truth means to exaggerate, to tell a small lie.
Not a big lie lie, but a small lie.
To stretch the truth, it's still a lie.
However, shane says charlie's the last person i would think of as being dishonest.
Dishonest is not honest.
Someone who lies i would never think to question his integrity.
Shane says Integrity I-N-T-E-G-R-I-T-Y is being honest or being moral and good, doing the right thing.
It's the state of being honest.
It's the situation where someone is honest.
You say he has integrity means he's an honest person.
Amina says it wasn't greed that made him do it.
Greed, G-R-E-E-D, means you have a desire to have more money, more things, more power.
Someone may say to you don't be greedy, meaning don't try to get more than what is due you, more than what you deserve.
Although greedy is usually used with money, it could be used in other circumstances.
If there are three pieces of pizza and you take two of them, leaving only one for your friend, your friend may say don't be greedy.
Don't try to take more than what you should.
We should split the second piece.
Amina says that Charlie's wife was ill and he couldn't pay the medical bills.
Amina says I think Charlie had the best of intentions in trying to get his wife the health care she needed.
The best of intentions means you have a desire to do the right thing.
You want to do something correctly or honestly, but in the end, it doesn't happen that way.
There's some problem that you have, but you wanted to do the right thing.
Amina says, The expression, it's only a matter of time, means that something is inevitable.
Inevitable means it will happen eventually.
Not today, not tomorrow, but sometime in the future it will happen.
It cannot be avoided.
It was only a matter of time.
It can be a good thing or a bad thing.
You could say...
It's only a matter of time.
Amina said it was only a matter of time before Charlie got caught, no matter how well he covered his tracks.
To cover your tracks T-R-A-C-K-S means to hide something that you have done, something wrong that you have done so that other people will not know about it.
There's a couple of meanings of this expression.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanation.
Shane says, I know Charlie's a bad liar.
A liar is someone who doesn't tell the truth.
A person who lies is a liar.
He says, To catch on is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to find out the truth about something.
The children tried to hide their report cards, their grades from their schools, from their parents.
But their parents eventually caught on.
They found out about it.
They discovered what the situation was.
Once again, this has a couple of different meanings, this expression.
Take a look at the learning guide for some more explanations.
Shane says that there were irregularities in the accounting.
Irregularities are things that are not usual, things that are not normal, usually in a bad way.
What I don't understand Shane says is, if he was having financial problems, why didn't he tell anyone?
Amina says, I don't know.
Amina says, I don't think the company is going to press charges.
To press charges means to take somebody to court to begin some sort of legal action against someone.
She says, Under the circumstances means in this particular case, in this particular situation.
Shane says I'm glad to hear that.
That's the last thing he needs.
It's clear that he showed poor judgment, but he's not a criminal.
Judgment is your ability to make good or bad decisions.
If you have poor judgment, that means you make bad decisions.
If you have good judgment, you make good decisions.
Amina says, that's the general consensus.
The expression general consensus means an agreement among most people.
The opinion that most people have of something.
That's the general consensus.
Amina says, I'm thinking of taking up a collection to help Charlie out.
To help him out means to help him.
To take up a collection means to ask other people to give money, to donate money for a certain person or a certain project.
Shane says, considering he was fired.
If we consider the fact that Charlie was fired as I'd keep it a secret from management
He's telling Amina she shouldn't tell her bosses that she's taking up a collection.
But he thinks, Shane thinks, it's a great idea.
Now let's listen to the dialogue again, this time at a normal speed.
Have you heard the latest news?
No, what is it?
Charlie was fired last Friday after the company found out that he had been cooking the books for over six months and had embezzled more than 50000.
Charlie?
I don't believe it.
He's the most outstanding person I know.
I can imagine him stretching the truth now and then, but he's the last person I would think of as being truly dishonest.
I would never think to question his integrity.
It wasn't greed that made him do it.
His wife has been ill, and he couldn't pay the medical bills.
I think he had the best of intentions in trying to get his wife the health care she needed, but it was only a matter of time before he got caught, no matter how well he covered his tracks.
Well, I know he's a bad liar and he's not known to make mistakes, so I'm not surprised that someone caught on pretty quickly when there were irregularities in the accounting.
What I don't understand is, if he was having financial problems, why didn't he tell anybody?
Some of us may have helped.
I don't know.
Maybe he felt desperate and just didn't know what to do.
I'm sure his wife being sick has been difficult for him.
I don't think the company is going to press charges, though, under the circumstances.
I'm glad to hear that.
That's the last thing he needs.
It's clear that he showed poor judgment, but he's not a criminal.
That's the general consensus.
I'm thinking of taking up a collection to help him out.
Do you think the company would mind?
Considering he was fired, I'd keep it a secret from management, but I think it's a great idea.
The script for this episode was written by the always honest Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2007.
