Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1136, Missing a Deadline.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1136.
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 a dialogue between Oliver and Alina about missing a deadline.
Let's get started.
How did she take it?
Not so well at first.
I knew she wouldn't be happy, so I've been in a dilemma for days.
Should I tell her now that I'm going to miss the deadline or wait until the deadline has passed?
For what it's worth, I think you did the right thing.
It gives her advance notice in case it affects other parts of her project.
That's what I thought, too.
I also offered to make up for any inconvenience the delay would cause.
Did she take you up on it?
No, she said that giving me a three-day extension wouldn't set her back.
But if it dragged on for longer than that...
It would put her in an awkward spot, and she would let me know.
I'm glad you came to an understanding.
So you'll have it done by the new deadline, right?
Yes, even if I have to do without sleep, food, or bathroom breaks for the next week.
Oliver begins our dialogue by saying I've just had to tell a client that I'm running behind and I won't make the deadline.
A client C-L-I-E-N-T is a person you work for, usually a person for whom you do some sort of service.
It's sometimes used the same way.
We use the word customer, although customer usually means that the person is buying something from you, some physical object, a book or a car or a computer.
Oliver tells his client that he's running behind.
The phrasal verb to run behind B-E-H-I-N-D means to be late, to have something take longer than planned so that you will probably not finish it when you are supposed to finish it.
I'm running behind means I'm late.
To make the deadline D-E-A-D-L-I-N-E means to complete something when you are supposed to complete it, to complete it on time.
A deadline is a time or a day by which you have to finish something.
Here in the Everyone has to pay their taxes by the 15th of April.
The personal tax deadline is April 15th.
Elena says, how did she, meaning Oliver's client, take it?
The expression here to take it means to accept something, to react to some news, some information, usually bad information, although not always.
Someone may say, well, my boss fired his secretary.
He fired the person who was working for him.
You might ask, well, how did he take it?
How did he react?
What was his emotional state, you might say?
Alina asks how Oliver's client took the information or the notification that he wasn't going to make his deadline.
Oliver says, not so well at first, meaning right after he told her.
I knew she wouldn't be happy, he continues, so I've been in a dilemma for days.
A dilemma, D-I-L-E-M-M-A, is a situation where you don't know what to do.
It's a difficult or confusing situation that makes it hard or tough for you to make a decision.
Often we use this when we have two different possible solutions and we can't decide which solution is better.
Oliver then tells us what the two possible solutions to his dilemma were.
He says should I tell her now that I'm going to miss the deadline or wait until the deadline has passed?
To miss MISS, the deadline, means to not make the deadline.
It's the opposite of making the deadline.
To miss the deadline means that you don't complete what you are supposed to complete on time.
Oliver's dilemma was deciding if he should tell his client that he wasn't going to make the deadline, that he was going to in fact miss the deadline, or just wait until the deadline had passed, meaning after the deadline.
Alina answers, for what it's worth, I think you did the right thing.
The expression for what it's worth W-O-R-T-H is used when we're giving someone information that we hope will be helpful, but often it isn't, or perhaps you're just unsure if it will be helpful or not.
Alina says that she thinks Oliver did the right thing.
She says it gives her advance notice in case it affects other parts of her project.
Notice, N-O-T-I-C-E, is information you give someone about some situation.
Advance notice would be information before the event occurs.
If you are going to leave at 5 o'clock this afternoon, you may say to your boss.
I want to give you advance notice that I'm leaving at 5 o'clock today instead of my normal time at 6 o'clock.
If you wait until 5 o'clock to tell your boss, you are not giving advance notice and your boss might not be very happy with you.
Oliver says, that's what I thought too.
In other words, yes, it was good to give her advance notice.
I also offered to make up for any inconvenience the delay would cause.
To make up for something is a very useful phrasal verb in English.
It means to do something that corrects a problem or a mistake that you have made.
It may also be used as a way of apologizing for a mistake that you made.
Let's say you were supposed to take your wife out to dinner tonight and you can't because you have to work late at the office.
You may call your wife and say I'm sorry I can't go to dinner tonight, but I will make up for it by taking you to a movie tomorrow night.
I'm not sure if your wife will agree that taking her to a movie makes up for going out to dinner, but that could be a way to use that expression.
Oliver says he offered to make up for the inconvenience, the delay, D-E-L-A-Y, would cause.
A delay is when something happens later than it should, later than it was scheduled to happen.
Elena says, did she take you up on it?
To take someone up on something is another very useful phrase.
It means to accept another person's offer to do something.
If someone says, if you need a ride to the airport tomorrow, just let me know.
You could call the person later and say I'd like to take you up on your offer to take me to the airport.
In other words, you're agreeing to let that person help you.
Alina asks if Oliver's client took him up on his offer to make up for the inconvenience.
Oliver says no.
She said that giving me a three-day extension wouldn't set her back.
An extension, E-X-T-E-N-S-I-O-N, here means additional time to complete a task.
If you are late on a project you are supposed to be completing, you might go to your boss and say I need an extension.
I need more time.
Oliver's client tells him that giving him a three-day extension would not set her back.
To set S-E-T someone back means to create a delay for someone else, to make someone else be behind schedule.
You could also say, this problem set us back or set me back.
It caused me to no longer be able to meet the deadlines I was hoping to meet.
Oliver's client told him however, that if this delay dragged on for longer than three days, it would put her in an awkward spot.
To drag D-R-A-G on is a phrasal verb meaning to last for a longer time than anticipated, to go at a very slow pace, a very slow speed.
If the delay dragged on for longer than three days?
Oliver's client said it would put her in an awkward A-W-K-W-A-R-D spot S-P-O-T.
A spot here means a situation.
An awkward spot would be a difficult or uncomfortable situation.
This is a very common phrase in business, to come to an understanding.
To come to an understanding means to reach an agreement, to agree on something.
Alina continues, Right?
Oliver says, yes, even if I have to do without sleep, food, or bathroom breaks for the next week.
To do without something is not to do something, especially when normally you would consider it a necessary thing to do.
To do without sleep is means that you are not going to go to sleep.
You're going to, in this case, continue working.
Sleep is normally considered necessary, so to do without it is considered a sacrifice, a difficult thing to do.
Doing without food would also be very difficult if you did it for a week.
Oliver obviously doesn't really mean he's going to do without food for a week.
Alina says that's very dedicated of you and potentially messy.
Dedicated, D-E-D-I-C-A-T-E-D, means committed or devoted. wanting to do a particular thing.
I'm very dedicated to working out in the afternoon, to exercising every afternoon, which I do on a treadmill.
I'm dedicated to that.
I am committed to it.
Alina says that Oliver is dedicated to.
He's dedicated to completing this task for his client, though his idea of doing without bathroom breaks is potentially or possibly messy.
Messy, M-E-S-S-Y, is unorganized or dirty.
Of course, bathroom breaks would mean going to the bathroom, and you certainly do not want to do without that.
Now let's listen to the dialogue this time at a normal speed.
I've just had to tell a client that I'm running behind and I won't make the deadline.
How did she take it?
Not so well at first.
I knew she wouldn't be happy, so I've been in a dilemma for days.
Should I tell her now that I'm going to miss the deadline, or wait until the deadline is passed?
For what it's worth, I think you did the right thing.
He gives her advance notice in case it affects other parts of her project.
That's what I thought, too.
I also offered to make up for any inconvenience the delay would cause.
Did she take you up on it?
No, she said that giving me a three-day extension wouldn't set her back, but if it dragged on for longer than that it would put her in an awkward spot and she would let me know.
I'm glad you came to an understanding.
So you'll have it done by the new deadline, right?
Yes, even if I have to do without sleep, food, or bathroom breaks for the next week.
That's very dedicated of you, though potentially messy.
Our scriptwriter never misses a deadline.
She's too organized for that.
I speak, of course, of the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
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 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
