Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 740, Corporate Gift Giving.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 740.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
This episode is called Corporate Gift Giving.
Let's get started.
Why did I get stuck with buying corporate gifts for our clients this year?
Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm good at buying gifts myself.
It's not because you're a woman.
It's because you're the most junior employee of the company.
I had the job three years ago when I started working here.
Oh, so you know the drill.
I was thinking of sending food baskets to McCue Corp.
I wouldn't advise doing that.
We're bidding on a new contract with their company, and the gift could be misconstrued as a bribe.
You'll want to avoid any appearance of impropriety. then I shouldn't send anything at all?
You could send a charitable donation in the company's name.
This way, we show our appreciation for their business and they get recognition for the contribution to a worthy cause, without seeming like we're trying to influence their decisions.
That seems like a good way to go.
What about the other companies we're doing business with?
A food basket would be fine for those companies.
Just make sure there's nothing perishable in them and send a handwritten note.
That adds a nice touch.
I was also thinking of sending our smaller clients calendars and t-shirts with our company logo.
What do you think?
I think they'd like gift certificates to stores or restaurants better.
What about a bottle of wine?
Wouldn't that be a good gift?
You never know how a client feels about alcohol, so stick to something safer, like the food baskets or gift certificates.
You have all the answers.
You're an expert at corporate gift-giving.
Don't say that too loudly.
If the powers that be hear about it, I might get stuck with the job permanently.
Your secret is safe with me.
Our dialogue begins with Michelle saying Why did I get stuck with buying corporate gifts for our clients this year?
To be stuck with something means that you have to do something that you don't want to do.
Usually because your boss or someone else told you to do it or assigned you to do it.
I arrived late to the meeting and everyone else had gotten all of the good jobs.
I got stuck with the worst job.
Corporate means related to a company, especially a large company or large business.
Michelle is talking about buying corporate gifts.
These would be gifts that you would give other companies for their business.
She says, just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm good at buying gifts.
Rafiq says, it's not because you're a woman.
It's because you're the most junior employee of the company.
Junior, J-U-N-I-O-R, is someone who is younger with less experience than other people.
The opposite of junior would be senior, S-E-N-I-O-R.
In companies, we talk about junior employees and senior employees.
This is especially true at, for example, law firms, a company of lawyers.
So Michelle is a junior employee, and that's why she has to do the job that perhaps no one else wanted to do.
Rafferty says, I had the job three years ago when I started working here.
Michelle says, oh, so you know the drill.
The expression to know the drill D-R-I-L-L means to understand how and why things are done a certain way.
To be, in other words, familiar with something.
She says, I was thinking of sending food baskets to McHugh Corp.
A basket is a container that you put something in, often that you are giving as a gift.
A food basket would be sort of like a big bowl that you would put certain food in and give as a gift to someone.
Michelle is thinking of sending food baskets to McHugh Corp.
Rafiq says, I wouldn't advise doing that.
In other words, that's not a good idea.
I don't think you should do that.
To bid B-I-D on something is an expression meaning to submit a proposal stating how you would finish a project, how long it will take and how much it will cost.
Companies often ask other companies to bid on a And the other companies say well, I'll do it for 500, I'll do it for 5000, and so forth.
Rafferk says that their company is bidding on a new contract, which is a written agreement, to do something with the McHugh company, and a gift could be misconstrued as a bribe.
To construe, C-O-N-S-T-R-U-E, means to interpret something.
To misconstrue would be to misinterpret or not to interpret correctly, not to understand.
You don't want the gift to be seen as a bribe.
A bribe, B-R-I-B-E is when you give someone money or things in order to influence them in some sort of illegal way or some unfair way.
You don't want to bribe your teacher for a good grade.
You could bribe your favorite podcaster, however.
Possible.
Rafferk says, you'll want to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Impropriety.
I-M-P-R-O-P-R-I-E-T-Y. is inappropriate or incorrect or wrong behavior, behavior that breaks the rules about how you are supposed to act.
It's a very formal word.
You won't hear it very much in normal conversation.
It is often used in talking about businesses doing things that are wrong or that seem wrong.
So Rafferke is saying you'll want to avoid, you don't want to do anything that will give an appearance, a image of impropriety, even if it isn't wrong.
Michelle says, then I shouldn't send anything at all.
Raphok says, you could send a charitable donation in the company's name.
A charitable donation is money or goods, that is, things that you give an organization to help its work, such as a hospital, a school, a church, etc.
What Rafferke is suggesting is that Michelle can give something to an organization in the name of the company.
And that's sometimes how people give a gift.
It's not a gift directly to the person.
It's a gift to an organization that perhaps that person supports or wants to help.
Rafferty says this way we'll show our appreciation for their business and they get recognition for the contribution to a worthy or good cause or activity, without seeming like we're trying to influence their decisions.
Michelle says, that seems like a good way to go.
Meaning, that seems like a good way to do things.
That seems like a good way to go.
What about the other companies we're doing business with?
Rafferk says a food basket would be fine for those companies, meaning yes, that's okay.
Just make sure there's nothing perishable in them and send a handwritten note.
Food that is perishable is food that, if you leave it for too long, will go bad, especially if it's not put in a refrigerator, if it's not cooled.
So, for example, if you were going to give them a frozen turkey, which would be kind of a strange gift, although sometimes companies at least they used to at Thanksgiving, the holiday in November where we eat turkey traditionally in the US.
Companies would sometimes give their employees turkeys as gifts to take home and eat.
Well, that would be an example of a perishable food.
If you left the turkey on a table for a day, it of course would no longer be good to eat.
A handwritten note is just what it says a small note or letter that you write by your hand, not by typing on a typewriter if anyone still types on typewriters or typing in a computer, which is how we do things mostly nowadays
Rafferk says, that adds a nice touch, meaning that's a nice additional thing to do for the company.
Michelle says I was also thinking of sending our smaller clients that is, our less important clients calendars and t-shirts with our company logo on.
A logo, L-O-G-O, is a symbol or an image created by a company to represent it.
Michelle says, Ruffirk says, I think they'd like gift certificates to stores or restaurants better.
A gift certificate is a piece of paper, more commonly now a little card, a little plastic card like a credit card, that the person can use to buy gifts at a certain store or even online, by using a special code, a special series of numbers and letters.
Michelle says, wouldn't that be a good gift?
Rafferk says, you never know how a client feels about alcohol.
You don't know what the other business might think of alcohol.
Maybe they don't like alcohol.
He says, so stick to something safer.
To stick to something is a phrasal verb meaning to continue to do something or to use something or not to change what you are doing now.
Stick to it means continue with it, continue on.
Usually, we use that expression when there's some sort of difficulty involved, but not always.
You could go to a restaurant where you normally eat and let's say, you always order steak and your wife says why don't you try chicken tonight?
You might say, no, I'm going to stick with or stick to my normal meal, which is a steak.
So Rufferk says that Michelle should stick to something safer, like the food baskets or gift certificates.
Michelle says, you have all the answers.
You're an expert at corporate gift-giving.
Rafferk says, shh, don't say that too loudly.
If the powers that be hear about it, I might get stuck with the job permanently.
The powers that be is another way of referring to the bosses, the decision makers, the people who are the leaders of a company or organization.
Rafferk says that if the powers that be hear that he is an expert at giving gifts, He might get stuck with the job permanently.
Permanently means forever, without end.
It's the opposite of temporary or temporarily.
Michelle says, sort of as a joke at the end, your secret is safe with me.
This expression your secret is safe with me is a way of telling the person I won't tell anyone else.
Don't worry.
But Michel is sort of making a joke.
It's not really a secret that Rafferty is good at buying corporate gifts, at least not one, that he probably cares too much that other people find out.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Why did I get stuck buying corporate gifts for our clients this year?
Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm good at buying gifts.
It's not because you're a woman.
It's because you're the most junior employee of the company.
I had the job three years ago when I started working here.
Oh, so you know the drill.
I was thinking of sending food baskets to McCue Corp.
I wouldn't advise doing that.
We're bidding on a new contract with their company and the gift could be misconstrued as a bribe.
You'll want to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Then I shouldn't send anything at all?
You could send a charitable donation in the company's name.
This way, we show our appreciation for their business and they get recognition for the contribution to a worthy cause, without seeming like we're trying to influence their decision.
That seems like a good way to go.
What about the other companies we're doing business with?
A food basket would be fine for those companies.
Just make sure there's nothing perishable in them and send a handwritten note.
That adds a nice touch.
I was also thinking of sending our smaller clients calendars and t-shirts with our company logo.
What do you think?
I think they'd like gift certificates to stores or restaurants better.
What about a bottle of wine?
Wouldn't that be a good gift?
You never know how a client feels about alcohol, so stick to something safer, like the food baskets or gift certificates.
You have all the answers.
You're an expert at corporate gift giving.
Shh, don't say that too loudly.
If the powers that be hear about it, I might get stuck with the job permanently.
Your secret is safe with me.
You don't need to send a handwritten note, but it might be nice to email us at eslpod at eslpod.com.
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 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
