Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 460, Working in a Bad Economy.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 460.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development.
Transcription by CastingWords.
It's a dialogue that is going to use a lot of vocabulary in talking about well, a bad economy, when people are losing their jobs and companies are not making a lot of money.
Let's get started.
This bad economy is really taking its toll.
Tell me about it.
My company has already laid off 20 of its workforce, and now the management is talking about cutting salaries.
It goes without saying that there won't be any bonuses this year.
What are you complaining about?
At least you still have a job.
Try working as a freelancer.
I've had to cut my hourly rate to compete with all of the people flooding the job market.
At least you're still able to pick and choose your clients.
If they say I have to work overtime, that's what I have to do.
I don't even get compensated for it.
You can bill by the hour.
What's the good of billing by the hour if I don't have any clients?
You don't know how good you have it.
I don't want to hear another word until you walk a mile in my shoes.
Ditto.
Siobhan begins our dialogue by telling Lex...
This bad economy is really taking its toll.
Economy refers in general to the financial system where things are bought and sold in any country or area.
Economy actually has a couple of different meanings in English however, so take a look at that learning guide for some additional explanations.
To take its toll on something means to have a negative effect or a bad influence on something, to make something more difficult.
So Siobhan says this bad economy is taking its toll, meaning it's causing damage to people, to companies and so forth.
Lex says, tell me about it.
This expression doesn't mean what it says.
It doesn't mean that the person is asking you to tell you something.
It's an expression we use to mean, yes, I know.
You're agreeing with someone and saying that you also know the same thing.
Lex says, To lay off someone means to take away someone's job.
So if John has been laid off, that means he's been fired.
He lost his job.
Often we use this phrasal verb to talk about someone who loses their job because of a bad economy, not because they did a bad job.
Workforce is just another word for the group of people who work in a particular industry, a particular kind of business, or even in a particular country.
The American workforce refers to everyone who works in the United States.
Lux says that the management is talking about cutting salaries.
Salary is the amount of money you receive for your work.
There's another word, also called wages W-A-G-E-S, which can mean the same thing, although usually when we say wages, we're talking about someone who works by the hour, who makes so many dollars each hour.
If you are paid regardless of how many hours you work, meaning it doesn't matter if you work more hours, you still get the same pay.
That's called a salary.
Lex says If you say it goes without saying, you're saying that what you are about to say is very obvious.
Another way to say this would be simply obviously.
Obviously, it goes without saying that there won't be any bonuses this year.
A bonus is money that you receive from your company, the place you work for.
Usually at the end of the year.
If the company has done very well, sometimes they'll give all of their employees more money.
Or if you have done a particularly good job, you might get this as an extra gift.
Siobhan says, what are you complaining about?
At least you still have a job.
Try working as a freelancer.
A freelancer is somebody who works for perhaps many different companies.
The technical term we might use is independent contractor.
Someone who works for different companies but is not an employee a full-time employee of any of them.
Siobhan says, Your hourly rate is the amount of money that you get per one hour of work.
Freelancers or independent contractors sometimes are paid by the hour, that is, for each hour that they say they worked.
Sometimes freelancers are paid by the job meaning, here are the things you have to do and we'll pay you so much money for finishing them.
When Siobhan says people are flooding the job market...
She means that there are more and more people suddenly doing the same kind of work that she is.
To flood something means to suddenly add a large number of that thing.
We were flooded with emails last week.
That means that suddenly we received lots and lots of emails.
The job market is...
The people who are looking for jobs, it's a general description of hiring and looking to hire.
That process, that group of people, the companies and the people looking for work, is called the job market.
If the economy is bad, then the job market is bad.
There aren't a lot of jobs or there aren't many jobs that pay well.
Lex says, at least you're still able to pick and choose your clients.
To pick and choose means to have many options to be able to select only the ones you really want to do or want to work with.
In this case,
Lex says, I have to do what my bosses tell me no matter what.
If they say I have to work overtime, that's what I have to do.
Overtime, one word, means working more than your normal hours.
Americans typically work 40 hours per week, but if you work 50 60, maybe even 70 hours, that would be called overtime.
Lex says, I don't even get compensated for it.
To compensate means to pay somebody for their work.
So Lex is saying that he doesn't get any extra money, even though he works more hours than he used to.
Compensate has a couple of different meanings in English however, so be sure to look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Lex says, you can bill by the hour, meaning you, Siobhan, can bill by the hour.
To bill means to tell somebody how much they need to pay you, to send them a piece of paper that says you must pay me this amount of money because I did this work for you.
By the hour just means each hour.
Many freelancers, independent contractors, will bill by the hour.
Depending on how many hours they work, that's how much you have to pay them.
Siobhan says, what's the good of billing by the hour if I don't have any clients, any customers?
She's saying yes, I can bill by the hour, but if you don't have anyone to bill, you don't have any jobs, then it doesn't matter.
Siobhan says, you don't know how good you have it.
If someone says you don't know how good you have it, they mean you don't understand or you don't realize what a good situation you have compared to me or compared to someone else.
Some people say that to someone who is complaining a lot, who's saying oh, my job is terrible, my life is miserable, my girlfriend doesn't love me.
Someone else may say, you don't know how good you have it.
At least you have a job.
At least you have a girlfriend.
Well, maybe not the girlfriend, but at least you have a job.
Siobhan says, I don't want to hear another word until you walk a mile in my shoes.
The expression to walk a mile in someone's shoes means to experience the same thing that someone else is experiencing.
To live someone else's life to have their experiences.
So Siobhan is saying that you don't understand me, my experiences, so I don't want to hear you complain until you have had the same experiences difficult experiences in this case as I have.
Lex says, ditto.
Ditto D-I-T-T-O is an informal term we use to say that you agree with someone completely.
What someone just said.
It's also if you want to repeat exactly what someone else has said.
So let's say a mother is talking to her two daughters.
And she asks the first daughter, And the first daughter says Then she asks the second daughter, And the second daughter says Meaning, I was with Julie too.
Here Lex is saying that he is in agreement with Siobhan in that he doesn't want to hear her complaining until she has experienced what he has.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
This bad economy is really taking its toll.
Tell me about it.
My company has already laid off 20 of its workforce, and now the management is talking about cutting salaries.
It goes without saying that there won't be any bonuses this year.
What are you complaining about?
At least you still have a job.
Try working as a freelancer.
I've had to cut my hourly rate to compete with all of the people flooding the job market.
At least you're still able to pick and choose your clients.
I have to do what my bosses tell me no matter what.
If they say I have to work overtime, that's what I have to do.
I don't even get compensated for it.
You can bill by the hour.
What's the good of billing by the hour if I don't have any clients?
You don't know how good you have it.
I don't want to hear another word until you walk a mile in my shoes.
Ditto.
It goes without saying that the script for this episode was written by the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
