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Bad Jobs – Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin Dodds, one of the teachers and directors of Learn Real English. Welcome to this month’s vocabulary lesson for the conversation Bad Jobs. I have the text of the actual conversation here and I’ve made some notes about some words or groups of words that you may have had difficulty understanding. So I’ll be explaining those as they relate to this conversation.

And, as I always start out these vocabulary lessons, let’s talk about three different words that you hear a lot, you’ll hear a lot in this conversation as well as in our conversations in general. The first one is actually two words combined together. So it’s y’know, y’know is actually you and know combined together and it sounds like y’know when we’re speaking very fast.

And the next word is yeah. Yeah is a slang word for yes. And the third word is like. You hear this quite often. Like, as you know, means to have positive feelings for someone or something but it can also be a filler word. So filler word meaning it just doesn’t have any meaning in a conversation. Alright, so let’s begin with Bad Jobs.

In the very beginning, AJ says, “Philip is doing his first job since graduating from college.” College: this is the word for university but here in the United States we usually say college more often than university.

Then AJ says, “Watching him struggle.” So struggle means to try with great difficulty.

And then AJ says, “It just brought back a lot of memories of all the terrible jobs I’ve had over the years.” So terrible means very bad.

And then AJ says, “My very first job was at Arby’s.” So Arby’s is the name of a fast food restaurant. It’s a chain, meaning that there are many around the United States, maybe even in other countries at this point, I don’t know. It’s…it’s like McDonald’s. I know that McDonald’s is in many countries. So it’s a fast food restaurant like McDonald’s. They serve sandwiches like McDonald’s, but they’re different. As AJ talks about, they serve roast beef sandwiches. So instead of a hamburger it’s sliced beef. Beef, meaning meat from a cow.

Then I say, a little bit later, “Yep.” So yep is a slang word for yes.

And then AJ says, “I just remember every day coming home feeling like there was grease all over me.” So grease: this is cooking oil. It’s the same as cooking oil is what he’s talking about.

And then I say, “I worked at a fast food place, Del Taco.” So Del Taco: that’s the name of another fast food chain here in the United States and it serves Mexican food. So I think we still have Del Tacos. I’m not sure though. I don’t really see them in this area where I live in California. So maybe it’s no longer a company. I’m not sure.

And then I say, “I would just leave there smelling of tacos and burritos.” So I’m still talking about Del Taco, the fast food restaurant. So I would leave there smelling like tacos and burritos. Tacos and burritos are two different types of Mexican food.

And then AJ says, “It can be a high pressure environment.” So high pressure environment means a fast pace, fast paced work.

And then AJ says, “I was doing the drive-thru a lot.” So what he means by doing the drive-thru, he was working at the drive-thru window so in many of our fast food restaurants, they are actually in buildings that are…they’re standalone buildings, so in other words, let’s say for example, McDonald’s. McDonald’s you would find it many times in a building where there is only McDonald’s, nothing else. So there’s…you can either park your car and go into the McDonald’s restaurant or you can drive in your car to a…drive around to the back of the restaurant and there’s a menu. Someone will come on a speaker from inside the restaurant and say, “Can I help you? What would you like to order?” So you look at the menu from the board there near your car and you order what you want, the food that you would like to have, and then you drive your car around to the side of the building and there’s a window in the side of the building where someone is standing there and then you pay them and they give you your food. So that’s the drive-thru or drive-thru window. So AJ would work at that window taking people’s money and giving them their food.

And then AJ says, “The cars would be stacking up.” So stacking up means the cars…more and more cars would be coming getting in line.

And then I say, “You have to multi-task.” So multi-task means to do several things at the same time, something I am not good at.

And then I say, “Remember when I worked at ASA…the airline?” So ASA: this was the name of an airline company and it, ASA stands for Atlantic Southeast Airlines. They were a small airline, a commuter airline, so they actually were a part of Delta. Delta flies internationally. It’s a big, well-known airline company. So this company I flew for was a small partner of Delta. So commuter means we only did short flights and mostly it was…I was living in the state of Georgia at that time, which is in the

southeastern part of the United States, and that’s where a lot of our flights, that’s where I…a lot of our flights were actually just short flights in the southeastern part.

And then AJ says, “Oh, yeah, you were a flight attendant.” So a flight attendant is actually also known sometimes, not here in America so much, but I’ve heard people in other countries refer to them or call them air hostess or stewardess. Here in America, in the United States, we used to call flight attendants stewardesses many, many years ago, maybe back in the ’70s, ’80s and then the name changed to flight attendant. So it is the person working in the cabin of the airplane where the people are actually seated, the passengers, and they’re the ones that serve the food and the drinks.

And then I say, “I has to wear makeup and high heels.” So makeup, I had to put makeup on my face and high heels, these are shoes that have the heel is on the bottom part of your foot, it’s the part that’s furthest away from your toes. So imagine that part, if you’ve got a pair of shoes with a piece under the heel that’s really high, those are high heels. So they make you look taller. And some people think they make women look sexier. Or men, men can wear heels as well, sometimes in boots or, y’know, whatever kind of shoe.

And then I say, “I started sneaking it and wearing it on flights.” So sneaking it means doing it secretively, hiding it so that no one knew. Now I wasn’t…I wasn’t actually hiding the fact that I was wearing my earrings because I was doing it. I say I was doing it secretively because my bosses didn’t know. They’re not on the actual flights with me. So what I was really saying was I was doing it anyway. I was wearing them anyway even though I shouldn’t have been.

And then I say, “One of my coworkers actually reported me.” So when I say that she reported me, she told on me to my boss.

And then AJ says, “Snitch!” So snitch: this is someone who tells on another person.

And then I say, “So there was always that hanging over me.” So what I mean by hanging over me, I was talking about fear. There was always that fear there…that fear of someone telling on me, of them catching me wearing my earrings.

And then I say, “I’ve already got one write-up, two more and I’m gone.” So when I say I’m gone I’m speaking about getting fired. And that’s actually what I meant, going back to hanging over me. The fear, it wasn’t just about wearing my earrings, it was about…I had that fear because I had the one write-up from wearing my earrings, I had the fear of getting two more write-ups and then getting fired.

And then I say, “It was just awful in so many ways.” So awful means really bad.

And then I say, “The pilots were…so many of them were male chauvinists.” So pilots: these are people who fly airplanes or helicopters even. And male chauvinists: these are men who think that men are better than women.

And then I say, “I was like a fish out of water in that job.” So what I meant by a fish out of water is that I did not feel like I fit in with the other people working there or with my bosses or, y’know, the company policies or rules. I felt really uncomfortable working there.

And then I say, “They didn’t resonate.” So what I mean by resonate is I didn’t feel that I had much in common with the people I was working with or with the company.

And then AJ says, “I would deliver these packaged sandwiches to different convenience stores all around north Georgia.” So convenience stores: this is a small store, a lot of times it can be a chain, meaning that there are many, and they sell things that you might need to buy quickly without having to go into a bigger store and search, or to look for that item. So, for example, they might have toothpaste, toothbrushes, drinks, snacks, y’know, a little bit of food that you can eat between a meal like dinner or lunch. What else? Cigarettes. Things that you just might need to get quickly, like I said. And sometimes convenience stores here in the United States, they also sell gas, gasoline. So one chain of convenience stores that I’ve seen in other countries is 7-Eleven, so 7-Eleven would be an example of a convenience store, if you know what a 7-Eleven is. And Georgia, when I say that there are convenience stores all around north Georgia, Georgia is the state that I grew up in and as I said a little while ago, it’s in the southeastern part of the United States. AJ grew up there for, or he lived there for a short time as well.

Okay, then AJ says, “I’d have to get up at 4:00 a.m. and make sure the truck was all stocked.” So 4:00 a.m.: that’s 4 o’clock in the morning. And when he says he had to make sure the truck was all stocked, stocked meaning that it was packed, it was all packed with the sandwiches that he would be delivering.

And then AJ says, “Then I would have to do the inventory of the truck.” So what he means by inventory of the truck is to make a list of the items or the sandwiches that were left at the end of the day.

Then AJ says, “It was a miserable job.” So miserable means depressing or sad, not a good, happy job.

And then I say…actually, it’s me saying this and then AJ, I first say, “It made me think of that commercial, ‘Time to make the donuts.’ You remember that?”

And then AJ says, “Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, that Dunkin’ Donuts commercial, right. Yeah.” So what we’re talking about…well let me first explain. Dunkin’ Donuts is a chain so there’s many of these. And it’s a…it’s a small shop that you can go in and buy donuts. And I’ve actually, I’ve seen Dunkin’ Donuts in Thailand so I know that they’re in other countries. So they sell donuts, coffee, maybe juice. That’s pretty much it, I think. So when we were younger, there was a TV commercial that was advertisement for Dunkin’ Donuts. And it would show this man and he would say “Time to make the donuts.” He’d be waking up really early in the morning. And he’d say, “Time to make the donuts.” And he’d go into work. He’d make the donuts. He’d come home and he’d say, “Okay, I made the donuts.” And the commercial just showed this…this routine repeating for this man and it showed it in a way of it being a very boring routine. Each time he’s saying it, every day, “Time to make the donuts,” he’s getting more and more bored. So we were making a joke about that commercial.

And then I say, “Oh, and then there was Korea.” So what I’m speaking about is a teaching job that AJ and I had working in Seoul, Korea, South Korea, this was our first teaching job. And this was back in 1996 and 1997.

And then I say, “I still have a knot in one of my muscles that goes back to that job.” So a knot: what I meant was tightness and soreness and it was right back in this area. So sometimes I still actually feel that same soreness at various times, maybe if I’m stressed I can feel that same soreness and it always makes me think back to when I first started feeling that which was when I was teaching in Korea. It was a very stressful job.

And then I say, “It’s probably a trigger point.” So a trigger point: this is just a very painful spot in a muscle.

And then I say, “I still have soreness. I remember you working on it at the time.” So when I say working on it, I’m saying I remember you massaging it at the time. AJ was trying to make me feel better because I was in a lot of pain from that tight, sore muscle.

And then I say, “My muscles were just probably contracted all the time.” So when I say they were contracted, I’m saying they were tightened, not relaxed.

Okay, then AJ says, “I was super stressed, too.” So super here is just slang for very. I was very stressed.

And then AJ says, “I was just getting sinus infections all the time when we were there.” So a sinus infection: this is a painful condition and it…your sinuses, well, they’re in your nose and it can actually, I think, if you have a sinus infection you’ll feel pain here and there’ll be fluid coming out of your nose sometimes. It’ll be colored like yellow or green. A sinus infection can also affect your ears because your ears and your nose and your throat, they’re all connected. So that’s…AJ would have problems right here with his nose just feeling a lot of pain.

And then AJ says, “The bosses would spy on us.” So spy means to secretly watch. They would secretly watch us teaching.

And then AJ says, “They were constantly criticizing all the teachers and yelling at us.” So constantly means all the time. And criticizing means they were finding negative things with us, with our teaching.

And then I say, “We started protesting towards the end.” So protesting means complaining. We were refusing to teach.

And then I say, “Then, of course, they would retaliate in any way that they could.” So retaliate means they would get back at all of us or they would respond in a negative way towards us.

And then I say, “We threatened to call all of them and tell them what was really going on behind the scenes.” So when I say we threatened to call all of them: threatened means warned, we were warning our bosses that we were going to call all of our students’ parents. And when I say we were going to tell them what was going on behind the scenes: behind the scenes means at our school, what was going on at our school, things that they didn’t know, that the parents of our students were not being told.

And then AJ says, “It was just such a hostile, disrespectful environment.” So hostile: this means mean, not nice. And disrespectful means rude, not polite.

And then AJ says, “They told us when they hired us, when we were in America, that they would train us. We’d come over, we’d get all this training because we weren’t teachers.” So when he says we’d come over, what he means is that they would fly us to Korea from the United States.

And then AJ says, “The training was they just pushed me into the classroom.” So they didn’t really push him, what he means by this is they…they took him into the classroom but it’s said in a negative way. So they took him into the classroom and said, “Here you go. You teach. No training for you, just teach.” That’s what he means by pushed him in.

And then AJ says, “My kids spoke zero English.” So zero means none, absolutely no English.

And then AJ says, “Sometimes the jobs themselves are really terrible, just what you’re doing can be horrible.” So horrible means really bad.

And then I say, “We were living in Atlanta.” So Atlanta is the capitol city of Georgia, the state that I said AJ lived in, I grew up in, in the southeastern part of the United States.

And then I say, “I started working for a vet.” So a vet: this is shortened for veterinarian and a veterinarian is an animal doctor.

And then I say, “I didn’t last long there because the vet was so mean to her employees.” So when I say I didn’t last long there, what I’m saying is I didn’t stay at the job very long. I think I worked there maybe three months, that’s al.

And then I say, “The thing that really bugged me was she could turn it on and turn it off.” So bugged me means bothered me. The thing that really bothered me was she could turn it on and turn it off. That means, to turn it on and turn it off means one minute she could be really nice to her clients, to her clients’ pets, y’know, their animals. And then the next minute, not in front of the clients, but to us then in the back of the animal hospital, she’d be really mean. So she could turn on the niceness and she could turn off the niceness. That’s what that means. She could be mean to her employees, that’s what I meant, the people working for her.

And then I say, “She’d be sugary sweet with the animal and the client.” So sugary sweet: this just means very sweet.

And then I say, “Then come out of the room and just lay into us.” So when I say lay into us, what I meant by that was verbally attack us, y’know, criticize us. Basically, just not being nice to us, the employees, the people working for her.

And then AJ says, “I think something happens when people become bosses or managers or owners that they get that little bit of power over people who work for them and a whole lot of people abuse it.” So abuse means to take advantage of.

And then AJ says, “They use it as a way to try to make themselves feel better or superior and they treat people like crap.” So crap means, here, it just means really badly.

Okay, so this completes or this is the end of our vocabulary lesson for the conversation Bad Jobs and I’ll be right back with the commentary.