Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1052, A Product Recall.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1052.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles California, USA.
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This episode is a dialogue between Melissa and Lee about a company that made some thing with a problem and had to get people to send it back to them in order to fix it.
Let's get started.
This is a disaster.
If we have to recall 100,000 units, we'll take a huge loss this year.
We have no choice.
The product defect poses a safety hazard.
If we don't act quickly, we'll have a huge liability issue on our hands.
I think we're blowing this out of proportion.
Only a small amount of our June product run was affected.
Yes, but even one case of someone getting hurt because of the defect would be a PR nightmare.
And that's on top of the charges of negligence we'd have to face in court.
We need to get ahead of this now.
Alright, alright.
I guess we have no choice.
Should we hold a press conference to announce the recall?
We'll send out a press release first and then hold a press conference.
I'm putting you in charge of it.
Get it done.
You mean in charge of getting the press release sent out?
I mean that and the press conference.
You can face the press and answer their questions.
You're throwing me to the wolves?
Not at all.
I'm helping you raise your profile in the company.
You should be thanking me.
Somehow, I don't feel so grateful.
The topic on this episode is a product recall.
A product is a thing, usually a physical thing, that companies produce and sell.
Just about anything physical can be a product, a computer, a microphone, a piece of paper.
All of these are products.
We often distinguish between products, which are typically physical, and services.
A service would be, for example, something a lawyer might do for you.
The lawyer isn't selling you anything.
The lawyer is charging you for his services, and quite a bit.
I'm sure in this dialogue, melissa begins by saying this is a disaster.
A disaster d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r is a crisis, a major problem that will be difficult to solve or recover from.
There are natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, as well as man-made disasters, things that humans cause.
Melissa says, if we have to recall 100,000 units, we'll take a huge loss this year.
To recall, R-E-C-A-L-L says Here refers to a company that makes something, a product that has a problem.
And it has to ask the people who bought the product to return the product back to the company so they can get a new product, one that works correctly, or to get a refund their money back.
The verb to recall can also mean to remember but here it means something very different.
Melissa says that they will take a huge loss this year.
A loss, L-O-S-S, is when you spend more money than you bring in.
A loss would be the opposite of profits.
Profit is when you make money.
A loss is when you lose money.
Lee says we have no choice, meaning we don't have any other option.
We have to do it.
The product defect poses a safety hazard.
A product defect, D-E-F-E-C-T, is a problem in the product or a problem with the product.
So, for example, if you make a car and the brakes of the car don't work properly, don't work correctly, that would be a good example of a product defect.
It would also be a good example of a product defect that poses a safety hazard.
The word poses P-O-S-E-S here just means presents or causes to happen.
A safety hazard, H-A-Z-A-R-D, is something that could hurt you or possibly even kill you.
Lee says, if we don't act quickly meaning if we don't do something right now we'll have a huge liability issue on our hands.
Liability L-I-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y refers to your responsibility, especially your financial responsibility, in case something goes wrong.
When Lee says we'll have a huge liability issue, he means that the company may have to pay out a lot of money to people, especially if people get hurt from their product.
He says we will have this huge liability issue on our hands.
The expression on our hands or on your hands means belonging to someone, especially when we're talking about responsibility for a problem.
If you're working on a project at work and suddenly you discover a big problem, you might say to your boss we have a problem on our hands, meaning we have a problem here.
Lee thinks they'll have a liability problem if they don't recall the product.
Melissa says, I think we're blowing this out of proportion.
To blow B-L-O-W something out of proportion, P-R-O-P-O-R-T-I-O-N means to act as if something were bigger or more important or more serious than it actually is.
The other word we would use here would be overreact.
O-V-E-R-R-E-A-C-T.
To overreact is to blow things out of proportion, to make them seem as if they were bigger problems than they actually are.
Melissa says product run would be a number of units that were made at the same time, that were manufactured at the same time.
Melissa is saying that the defect in the product is only affecting a small number of the products that they made.
Lee says yes, but even one case or one example of someone getting hurt because of the defect would be a PR nightmare.
PR stands for public relations, and here it refers to the publicity or the reputation of the company.
A nightmare is a bad dream.
We sometimes use it to describe a terrible situation.
Lee continues, On top of here means in addition to.
So in addition to the PR nightmare, Lee says, There will also be charges of negligence.
Negligence, N-E-G-L-I, G-E-N-C-E, is a term often used in the law to refer to the failure of someone to take care of someone or something. that he is responsible for especially if that failure results in or causes harm or even death negligence refers to a situation where you don't want to harm someone but you do things that harm someone things that you should have not done or that you should have known not to do Lee says the company will have to face charges of negligence in court.
He says we need to get ahead of this now.
To get ahead of something means to say and do whatever is necessary so that you can control a situation, a situation that is perhaps getting worse.
Melissa says, alright, alright.
I guess we have no choice.
Should we hold a press conference to announce the recall?
A press PRESS conference is an event to which you invite reporters from television stations or newspapers in order to make a big announcement, in order to say something important about your company and its actions.
Melissa is suggesting they hold a press conference.
Notice the verb hold is used especially when we are talking about press conferences.
Lee says, we'll send out a press release first and then hold a press conference.
A press release.
R-E-L-E-A-S-E is a document, either a piece of paper or perhaps a PDF file, that you send news organizations like television stations and newspapers and magazines announcing something important about your company.
Melissa says, I'm putting you in charge of it, meaning me.
You have to do it.
Get it done, she says.
Lee says, You mean in charge of getting the press release sent out?
Melissa says, you can face the press and answer their questions.
To face is used once again here to mean to have to deal with a difficult situation or to have to talk to and handle a certain group of people.
Lee says, you're throwing me to the wolves?
This expression, to throw T-H-R-O-W someone to the wolves W-O-L-V-E-S means to put someone in a difficult situation, especially a situation that might be hostile and where the person might have to answer difficult questions.
Wolves is the plural of wolf, W-O-L-F, which is an animal, a sometimes dangerous animal.
Lee is asking if he is going to have to suffer basically for the mistakes that the company made, by having to hold a press conference and talk to reporters.
Melissa says, not at all, meaning no, I'm not throwing you to the wolves.
I'm helping you raise your profile in the company.
You should be thanking me.
To raise R-A-I-S-E, your profile.
P-R-O-F-I-L-E means to do something so that other people notice you, to get attention, positive attention from other people, especially in your company.
Of course, Melissa isn't trying to raise Lee's profile by making him the person who has to do the press conference, but she acts as though that is what she were doing.
She even says amazingly, you should be thanking me, meaning that Lee should be grateful, should say thank you for this assignment, this task.
Lee says, somehow, I don't feel so grateful.
Grateful, G-R-A-T-E-F-U-L, means feeling thankful, wanting to express your thanks to someone.
Lee doesn't feel very grateful, very thankful for having to do this job.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
This is a disaster.
If we have to recall 100,000 units, we'll take a huge loss this year.
We have no choice.
The product defect poses a safety hazard.
If we don't act quickly, we'll have a huge liability issue on our hands.
I think we're blowing this out of proportion.
Only a small amount of our June product run was affected.
Yes, but even one case of someone getting hurt because of the defect would be a PR nightmare.
And that's on top of the charges of negligence we'd have to face in court.
We need to get ahead of this now.
All right, all right.
I guess we have no choice.
Should we hold a press conference to announce the recall?
We'll send out a press release first and then hold a press conference.
I'm putting you in charge of it.
Get it done.
You mean in charge of getting the press release sent out?
I mean that and the press conference.
You can face the press and answer their questions.
You're throwing me to the wolves?
Not at all.
I'm helping you raise your profile in the company.
You should be thanking me.
Somehow I don't feel so grateful.
We're all very grateful for the wonderful work done by our scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
