20160913-81

S: Morning, Tifany. Good weekend?

T: Oh yes, it was cool. And you?

S: Yeah I had a good weekend, too –apart from having to finish off this report. How about you? What did you do?

T: I went to the swimming pool yesterday. Gorgeous weather.

S: Sounds good. Er, Tifany, have you got a minute?

T: Sure.

S: Come in. I just wanted to have a quick word. Erm, I hear you had a problem with Maureen on Friday.

T: Oh, that. Yeah. That idiot refused to help me! Who does she think she is?!

S: Well, Tifany, I think perhaps you should be more careful about how you talk about your colleagues. Maureen is a very experienced assistant and a valuable member of the team.

T: OK, but she still refused to help me.

S: Well, you might want to think about why she couldn’t help you. Maureen was very busy on Friday, and I understand you didn’t really ask for help so much as demand her immediate attention. We try hard to respect all our staff here. As a future manager, I think you ought to do the same.

T:But I was just trying to finish the job.

S: Well, I understand that, and I appreciate that you work hard and that you expect other people to show the same commitment. But, don’t you think you might get better results from people like Maureen by being a little more diplomatic?

T: Yeah, OK. I’m sorry, you are right. I was tired. I didn’t mean to be rude. 

S: OK. It can happen to anyone. Why don’t you ask Maureen to have a coffee with you, and just clear the air? OK?

T: OK. Thanks, Simon. 

clear the air: discuss a problem or a difficult situation with someone in order to make things better

1 管好你自己的事Mind your own business

2 批评criticism (criticize  v)

3 算了吧 forget it

4 婚宴 wedding reception

5 口音accent 

6 我会尽快给你打回去。I will call you back asap.

7 稍等。Hold on, please. Hang on, please.

8 不好意思，我刚才没完全跟上。可以再说一遍吗？Sorry, I didn’t quite follow/catch everything. Could you say that again?

9 叙旧

10 电话会议conference call

11 频繁的frequent

12 安慰console/comfort