At Work: Colleagues and Routines

Task 1

Look at the following extracts of some people talking about their job and their colleagues.

 

A Colleagues

Well, Philip is my opposite number (has the same position/does the same job as me) in the company's New York office.   He and I have a good working relationship [how we communicate and work together]. Last month we got a new boss, who quickly established a good rapport (communication/relationship) with everyone in the office. I do socialise with my workmates [informal: colleagues, especially in non-nprofessional jobs] but we try not to talk shop [informal: talk about work].   The company is generally very hierarchical (has a structure with powerful and less powerful people) and there’s a pecking order (where some people have the right to get benefits/promotions before others for everything. I do a job-share (we each have a 50% contract for the same job with a woman called Rosemary. It suits us both as we each have children to look after.

B Daily work routines

Nancy gets to work at about 8.45. She has to clock in and clock out (uses an electronic card to record the time she arrives and leaves each day). She works fixed hours; she has a nine-to-five job. Brett can come in at any time from eight o'clock till ten in the morning; he works flexi-time / he's on flexi-time, but his core hours are 10.00 to 12.00 and 2.00 to 4.00. Archie doesn't go to the office at all. He works from home with his computer; he's a teleworker. Bert works different times each week; every third week he works nights; he does shift work / he's a shift worker. Mick has his own company; he's self-employed and works from home. His wife works for different companies at different times; she's freelance / she works freelance.

C During the day

Helen:

Most of the day I do routine tasks, but occasionally there's a crisis or I have to meet a deadline (have something finished by a fixed day or time). At certain times of the year I have a very heavy workload (amount of work I have to do) but at other times it can be quite light.

Richard:

I start work at my machine at seven o'clock when I'm on the day shift. The job's very mechanical (you don't have to think about what you are doing) and repetitive (the same thing every day).   All I ever think about is knocking off at three (informal: finishing work). The shift I hate most is the night shift. I start at ten and work all night till six in the morning. The job's a bit monotonous (boring because it never changes).

 

Paul:

I have a glamorous job (very exciting, which everyone admires). I’m a pilot. The hours are irregular and antisocial (do not enable one to have a normal social life), but I'm not stuck behind a desk (informal: sitting in an office all day) and there's a lot of variety. The stress levels can be quite high when you know people's lives depend on you. I feel sorry for people who are stuck in a rut (stuck in a job they can't escape from) or working in dead-end jobs (jobs with no prospects of promotion).

 

 

Tom:

I have a lot of paperwork to do by tomorrow. (letters/reports to write, forms to complete) My father did manual work all his life and was very fit. (hard and physical). I think I'd like vocational work, like being a nurse or a teacher. (which helps people)

Describe someone’s job using as many words in bold type as you can and follow the examples below:

1. Assembly-line worker This is a worker who stands at a moving mechanical belt and

repeats the same job or process, so it could be called tedious, monotonous, repetitive, mind-numbing (deadens your mind), soul-destroying (destroys your spirit and ambitions and dreams).

 

2. Shop-steward This is a trade union officer who negotiates with management on behalf of the union-members, so it could be called demanding, stressful, hectic, intensive, sensitive, thankless (nobody is ever really grateful to you).

 

3 PR officer A Public Relations Officer gives statements to the press and information to the public in general. This job could be called varied, unpredictable, glamorous (the PR officer might appear on radio and TV), demanding, stressful, never-ending.

 

4 Bodyguard This is a job where someone protects a person whose life may be in danger. It is definitely a (potentially) dangerous, stressful, intense, demanding job for highly trained people, but it could also be glamorous, exciting and exhilirating.

 

5 Lifeguard This is a job where someone saves people who get into difficulties in swimming pools and / or in the sea, and generally watches over their safety, so it could be called rewarding, indispensable, (potentially) dangerous, stressful, demanding, but sometimes monotonous.

 

6 Trawlerman This job on a large fishing boat is dangerous, unenviable, essential, stressful, physically demanding, unpredictable.

 

7 Private eye A private eye is a private detective, so this job could be called glamorous, exciting, dangerous, fascinating, but for some people it is contemptible (they hate or despise private eyes).

 

8 Refuse collector This is a person who collects the rubbish from people's houses, generally a monotonous, unglamorous, unenviable, low-paid, dirty, unpleasant, but essential job.

 

 

Task 2