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Asking for a Raise

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 212, “Asking for a Raise.”

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 212. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com. There you will find a Learning Guide for this episode of ESL Podcast. It contains all of the words, definitions, additional explanations and a complete transcript of this episode.

Today we are going to talk about asking for a raise at work. Let’s go.

[Start of story]

Patty: Alberto, can I pick your brain for a minute?

Alberto: Yeah, sure, but you’ll have to make it quick. I’m going into a meeting at 3.

Patty: Sure. Hopefully, this won’t take long. I’m thinking about asking for a raise. I’ve been working here for a year and half, and I now have a lot more responsibilities on my plate than when I started. I think I’ve earned a raise, but I don’t know how to broach the issue with Wayne. I can’t just go into his office and say, “Give me a raise!”

Alberto: You’re right. It’s not an easy thing to bring up. One thing I did when I asked for a raise last year was to remind Wayne of my qualifications and all of the work I do around here. I tried to convince Wayne that I was indispensable.

Patty: Obviously it worked. You got a raise and a promotion, too. All I want is a bump in pay.

Alberto: The trick is to sell yourself without seeming self-serving. And, you don’t want to give any ultimatums either. That definitely won’t fly with Wayne.

Patty: I can see that. I plan to talk to him at the end of the week so wish me luck.

Alberto: You don’t need it. I’m sure Wayne will see things your way.

[End of story]

Our podcast is called, “Asking for a Raise.” A raise, “raise,” is when you want more money for the job that you do for someone. To ask for a raise means to ask for more money, to be paid more money at your job.

Our dialogue is between Patty and Alberto. Patty asks Alberto, “Can I pick your brain for a minute?” To pick, “pick,” can mean to take and remove something, so when you say to someone, “I want to pick your brain,” you’re saying I want to get some ideas from your brain. I want you to give me some ideas. Your brain, of course, is what is, well, what should be in your head. Some people have it other places! So, to pick your brain means to get ideas, to get your opinion about something.

Alberto says, “Yeah, sure,” okay, “but you’ll have to make it quick.” When someone says, “make it quick,” they mean don’t take a very much time. You have to hurry. I’m busy and I have to go, so make it quick: speak quickly, tell me quickly what you want to tell me. The opposite of make it quick would be take your time. If someone says, “Take your time,” they mean you can go slowly.

Alberto doesn’t say take your time, he says, “make it quick. I’m going into a meeting at three,” at three o’clock.

Patty says that she’s been “thinking about a raise.” She has been working at the company for a year and half, and now she has more things to do, more responsibilities on her plate. When we say I have more things or more responsibility on my plate, “plate,” we mean that I have many more things that I am doing, many more projects, many more tasks that I am responsible for. You can think of your plate like a plate that you would eat your food off of, so to have more things on the plate means that you have more things that you have to do.

Patty says that she thinks she’s “earned a raise.” To earn a raise, “earn,” here means that she deserves a raise, that she should get a raise because she has done the work required in order to get more money. However, she says that she doesn’t “know how to broach the issue with Wayne.” To broach, “broach,” means the same as to begin talking about. We may also use the verb here, to raise. As a verb, not as a noun, we use raise to mean the same as broach, to begin talking about something, to be the first one to start talking about something. This is the same meaning as the expression to bring up. To bring, “bring,” up, two words, means to raise, to start talking about. The verb to bring up actually has a couple of different meanings. Look today’s Learning Guide for some additional explanations of those meanings.

Alberto says, “It’s not an easy thing to bring up.” It’s not an easy thing to broach.

“One thing I did when I asked for a raise,” he says, was to tell Wayne, “to remind Wayne of” his “qualifications.” Your qualifications, “qualifications,” plural, your qualifications are your skills, your knowledge - the things that make you good at your job or the things that makes you able to do your job. Someone might say, “I went to the university and I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering. I have good qualifications for this job.” I have the things this job requires.

Alberto says that he tried to convince the boss, Wayne, that he was indispensable. To be indispensable, “indispensable,” means that you cannot do without this person, that you must have this person. The opposite of indispensable is dispensable, and that, what we would call prefix that comes at the beginning of a word, the prefix “in” means not, in many cases. So, when we say someone is indispensable, we mean that they are not dispensable. If you say something is inconvenient, you mean it is not convenient.

Patty says that obviously, or clearly, Alberto’s strategy, what Alberto did, worked because he “got a raise and a promotion.” A promotion, “promotion,” is when you get a better job, usually a job that is higher up. You move up, we might say, in the company, you have a higher position in the company. Promotion is almost always used to talk about people in a job or at work. You can get a promotion without a raise, and you can get a raise without a promotion. A raise is more money. A promotion is a higher position in the company. I have a high position at the Center for Educational Development, but I have never gotten a raise.

Well, Patty says also that she wants “a bump in pay.” A bump, “bump,” means here an increase. She wants an increase in pay. zit means the same as a raise.

Alberto says, “The trick,” or the best approach, “is to sell yourself without seeming self-serving.” To sell yourself means to convince someone else that you are the best person, that you deserve what you are asking for. To be selfserving, “self-serving,” means that you are only interested in yourself. You’re not interested in other people, and therefore you may not be trustworthy. If you say things that are self-serving, they are only going to be good for you. They’re only going to benefit you.

Alberto warns Patty that she should not “give any ultimatums.” An ultimatum, “ultimatum,” is a demand. When you say to someone, “If you do not give me a raise, I will quit,” that is an ultimatum. You’re saying if something doesn’t happen then you will do something else. Alberto says that ultimatums “definitely won’t fly with Wayne.” When we say something won’t fly, “fly,” we mean they won’t work.

There are other very different meanings of the verb, to fly. Take a look at today’s Learning Guide for more explanation of those.

Patty says that she can see what Alberto means, she understands what he means, and that she is going to talk to Wayne next week. Alberto says that he is sure that Wayne, their boss, will see things Patty’s way. To see things (someone’s) way, or to see things your way, in the case of the dialogue, means that he will agree with you. It means when someone will look at a situation, will understand a situation the same way you look at it, the same way you understand it. The opposite of that would be to have someone who doesn’t see eye to eye with you. The expression to be unable or not to see eye, “eye,” to eye means that you don’t agree with someone. But, in the dialogue, Alberto says that Wayne will see things the same way.

The whole topic of how Americans get promotions and raises is an interesting one. We have a discussion of that in our culture note in today’s Learning Guide.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.

[Start of story]

Patty: Alberto, can I pick your brain for a minute?

Alberto: Yeah, sure, but you’ll have to make it quick. I’m going into a meeting at 3.

Patty: Sure. Hopefully, this won’t take long. I’m thinking about asking for a raise. I’ve been working here for a year and half, and I now have a lot more responsibilities on my plate than when I started. I think I’ve earned a raise, but I don’t know how to broach the issue with Wayne. I can’t just go into his office and say, “Give me a raise!”

Alberto: You’re right. It’s not an easy thing to bring up. One thing I did when I asked for a raise last year was to remind Wayne of my qualifications and all of the work I do around here. I tried to convince Wayne that I was indispensable.

Patty: Obviously it worked. You got a raise and a promotion, too. All I want is a bump in pay.

Alberto: The trick is to sell yourself without seeming self-serving. And, you don’t want to give any ultimatums either. That definitely won’t fly with Wayne.

Patty: I can see that. I plan to talk to him at the end of the week so wish me luck.

Alberto: You don’t need it. I’m sure Wayne will see things your way.

[End of story]

Our script today was by Dr. Lucy Tse. She needs a raise too, I think.

If you have questions or comments about our podcast, feel free to email us at eslpod@eslpod.com. From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006.