Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, Episode 560 Learning, Work Rules and Routines.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, Episode 560.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is about a boss and someone who works for him talking about learning the rules and the procedures at a new job.
Let's get started.
I was happy to finally get a job, but I wasn't ready for a first day of work like this one.
This is your first day and my job is to give you the rundown on how we do things around here.
This is a well-oiled machine.
Everybody has to pull his or her weight or things don't run smoothly.
Got that?
Yes, I do.
I'm here to learn and to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
I expect you to know the drill and be able to fall in line by the end of the week.
I will do my very best.
We don't like surprises around here, so we've built our workday around a lot of routines that every employee follows.
We expect people to arrive at 8.30 on the nose.
That's our start time and there is no leeway whatsoever.
If you're habitually late You're out.
Got that?
Got it.
We're no run-of-the-mill company.
We have a tried and true system here, and we expect all of our employees to follow lockstep.
Got that?
Yes, sir.
I needed a job, but when I was offered this one, I didn't know what I was letting myself in for.
I didn't have a new boss.
I had a drill sergeant.
The story begins with Olivia saying...
The boss says to Olivia, And my job is to give you the rundown on how we do things around here.
The phrase to give someone the rundown one word means to present the basic information about something to another person.
We might also call this an overview, a general idea of what it is you are talking about.
Olivia's boss is going to give her the rundown on how they do things in that office.
The boss says, this meaning this business or this office is a well-oiled machine.
That expression, a well-oiled machine, means that it works very well.
It works very efficiently.
It doesn't make mistakes.
They don't waste time or money.
A well-oiled machine is something that works without problems.
It's very efficient.
In many machines, for example in the engine or motor of your car, you have oil so that the metal that is touching other metal is able to move freely or easily.
That's where the expression originally comes from, I think.
The boss says everybody has to pull his or her weight. or things don't run smoothly.
To pull your weight or to pull your own weight means to do what you are supposed to do as part of the group or as part of the team.
We might also say to do your fair share of meaning.
You're supposed to do what you are told to do, assigned to do in order to help the whole group.
If not everyone pulls his or her weight, the boss says things don't run smoothly.
To run smoothly means to operate or function without any problems the way things are supposed to work.
The boss then says to Olivia, got that?
Got that?
As a question is an informal, somewhat impolite way of asking someone if they understand.
We might also say, you got it?
It's usually a parent to a child or a boss to an employee, but it's still not a very nice way to ask someone if they understand something.
You would instead say, do you understand what I'm saying?
Or do you understand that?
Olivia says, yes, I do.
I'm here to learn something.
The expression to get up to speed means to learn all that you need to learn, especially when you are a new employee or new member of an organization where all the other employees or members know everything.
You don't know anything.
So you need to work hard to get up to speed, to know what the other people know.
The boss says, good.
I expect you to know the drill and be able to fall in line by the end of the week.
To know the drill, D-R-I-L-L, means to know what is going to happen and what you need to do.
To know what to expect and what is expected of you in particular.
So knowing the procedures is knowing the drill.
The boss expects her to know the drill and And be able to fall in line by the end of the week.
To fall in line means to do what is expected of you, what you have been asked to do, without complaining, without saying oh, I don't want to do this, without making mistakes.
That's to fall in line.
Sometimes we use this expression when you are trying to change people's opinions or actions.
And if one person changes their mind or starts doing something differently, the others especially if that person is a leader will fall in line.
Olivia says, I will do my very best.
I will do the best that I can.
The boss says, we don't like surprises around here, here at this company.
So we've built our workday around a lot of routines that every employee follows.
We've built our workday.
We've planned our work.
Using these routines, a routine is something that is done the same way every time.
The order doesn't change.
Most of us have routines when we get up in the morning.
We may go into the bathroom and brush our teeth or take a shower, or go exercise and then eat breakfast, etc.
That would be your routine, the way you do things every morning.
Maybe your routine is every day you get up, you drink a bottle of beer, and you go to work.
I hope that's not your routine, but you know, maybe somebody out there does that.
The boss says, we expect people to arrive at 8.30 on the nose.
On the nose is an expression, an informal expression we use in talking about time, when we mean exactly precisely.
I want you here at 8.30 on the nose.
Not 8.29, not 8.31, 8.30.
Two other ways of saying this are on the button, B-U-T-T-O-N, and on the dot, D-O-T.
The boss says, that's our start time, that's the time we start working.
And there is no leeway whatsoever.
Leeway, L-E-E-W-A-Y, one word, is freedom to break the rules.
Freedom to do something the way you want to, not the way the rules are.
It can also mean, more generally, flexibility.
If someone says I want you here at 830, but I'll give you some leeway, meaning you could come at 835, maybe 840, without getting into trouble.
Well, not at this company.
There's no leeway whatsoever.
Whatsoever, one word, means not at all.
It's used to emphasize a negative in a sentence.
She had no luck whatsoever in getting her novel published.
She had no luck.
The whatsoever is used for emphasis.
The boss says.
Habitually means regularly normally, time and time again, something that often or always happens.
He habitually wears sunglasses even at night.
He must be some sort of rock star.
You know they all do that.
They wear the sunglasses even though there's no sun.
Maybe because their routine when they get up in the morning is to drink a bottle of beer.
Then you can understand why the sunglasses are there.
The boss says, if you're habitually late, you're out, meaning you will be fired.
You will lose your job.
Once again, he says, got that?
Olivia responds by saying, got it, meaning I understand.
The boss then says, we're no run-of-the-mill company.
Run of the mill, hyphens in between each word, means ordinary.
We're not like other companies.
We're not typical.
We're not ordinary.
We're special, is what he's saying.
He says we have a tried and true system here and we expect all of our employees to follow lockstep.
Tried and true means something that has been tested and has been shown to work well.
My friend had a tried and true system for finding a girlfriend in college.
He would take classes that had mostly women in them.
So his odds, his chances were better.
For example, at my university, the foreign language classes had more women, a lot more women than men.
That's why I was a Spanish major.
The boss says that they expect the employees at the company to follow lockstep.
Lockstep, one word, means doing things in the same way at the same time as everyone else.
No changes, no leeway, no flexibility.
Once again, the boss says, got that?
And Olivia says, yes, sir.
Yes, sir, is rather formal.
It's almost something you would hear more often in the military.
And that's really the idea that Olivia wants to convey, wants to show.
Olivia said, To let yourself in for something means to put yourself in a difficult or even dangerous situation.
If someone says to you you don't know what you're letting yourself in for, they're trying to warn you.
They're trying to tell you that this is going to be difficult, more difficult than you think.
Olivia says, I didn't have a new boss at her work.
I had a drill sergeant.
A drill sergeant is a person who works in the military and whose job it is to tell new soldiers what to do.
Usually drill sergeants are very tough and they yell a lot to try to get the new soldiers to obey and to get used to being shouted at and being given orders.
We use the expression to mean someone who is too authoritarian, somebody who is too tough, somebody who tries to operate their company as if it were the army.
That's the joke that Olivia is making at the end here.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I was happy to finally get a job, but I wasn't ready for a first day of work like this one.
This is your first day, and my job is to give you the rundown on how we do things around here.
This is a well-oiled machine.
Everybody has to pull his or her weight, or things don't run smoothly.
Got that?
Yes, I do.
I'm here to learn and to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
Good.
I expect you to know the drill and be able to fall in line by the end of the week.
I will do my very best.
We don't like surprises around here, so we built our workday around a lot of routines that every employee follows.
We expect people to arrive at 8.30 on the nose.
That's our start time and there is no leeway whatsoever.
If you're habitually late, you're out.
Got that?
Got it.
We're no run-of-the-mill company.
We have a try-to-true system here and we expect all of our employees to follow lockstep.
Got that?
Yes, sir.
I needed a job, but when I was offered this one, I didn't know what I was letting myself in for.
I didn't have a new boss.
I had a drill sergeant.
This dialogue was written by someone who is not your run-of-the-mill writer, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
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.
