Lori: So, you’ve worked in offices before, haven’t you?
Michael: Oh yes, yes, yeah.
L: What’s the difference between working in an office and say, working on your own at home?
M: Well, I think if you’re working on your own at home, you need to have…The first thing that springs to mind is you need to have self-discipline.
L: Mm hmm.
M: Because you have nobody…if you have a boss, they’re somebody who isn’t there with you, they’re maybe on the end of a telephone somewhere, and they’re not looking over you. I mean, they’re never going to know if you want to nip outside for a fag, or do, you know, any of the things that you might want to—I’m going to have another coffee-break, because I feel like it—you can’t do things like that when you’re working in an office, there’s umm…And there are more distractions I think, because there are other people to speak to, ummm…You know, so in an office, the atmosphere tends to be very much, everything revolves around the work – it’s work, work, work, all the time. It’s more regimented.
L: Do you have to look busy all the time?
M: That depends on your boss. I can…speaking from experience, in the last office that I worked in, yes! I had to look busy, it was really quite silly, even if you didn’t have any work to do and you’d done all your work, you had to look busy, umm…Otherwise, you know, you’d get in trouble for it.
L: Yeah, you know, I worked in a drugstore in the States when I was a teenager; it was my very first full-time job.
M: A drug…A drugstore? We would say a chemist in British English.
L: Yeah, it was…I don’t even know if…
M: Is that a pharmacy?
L: Well they had a pharmacy in the back.
M: Ok, ok.
L: It was called Save-On Drugs
M: Right, no I’m sorry to interrupt, I just wanted…wondered…
L: No, it’s ok
M: The difference with the British and American English.
L: Yeah well, this was the kind of place, they had the pharmacy in the back
M: Yeah
L: They had a liquor department where they sold the wine and booze and…
M: Yeah
L: All of that and then they sold clothes, cosmetics…
M: Ok, so it’s almost…it’s almost like a…a supermarket really, I mean…
L: Yeah they had some food, but it was more snacks, like chips and..
M: Ok, all right, I get the picture
L: You know, you would call crisps, I guess
M: We would, yes that’s right, yeah!
L: And all types of things for the house and garden and pet food and…and things
M: Right, ok
L: But yeah, I worked there as a cashier
M: Mmm hmm…
L: For about a year, full-time. And I can remember how horrible it was to just have to look busy all the time, even when there was really just nothing to do.
M: Ok, so you’d be sitting at your…the cash desk
L: Well we had to stand.
M: Oh no!
L: So you would be standing up for eight hours a day it was, uh, 4 hours…
M: There was no little seat that you could sit back on, or?
L: No, no, you just, you were standing the whole day.
M: Oh, I feel really sorry for you now
L: It was horrible
M: I’m amazed you managed to last for a year.
L: Oh it was, it was such a horrible job, I hated that job so much; you can’t even begin…I can’t begin to tell you how horrible it was.
M: Ok.
L: Just from…In fact, I’m not the kind of person who gets bored...
M: No
L: I never get bored. But if I really think back, that was probably the most boring time of my life, I think that I ever had, was having to stand there in that check-stand doing this mindless job…
M: Oh yeah
L: Running people through as fast as you can while being polite and courteous and smiling, and they would be so rude sometimes, the people who would come through.
M: Ahh…But do you know?
L: Just really rude.
M: That’s something that I’ve often thought about, is that when you’re working…um, in service industry or retail
L: Uh huh
M: They seem to have this mantra that the customer is always right and even if the customer misbehaves and is rude and unpleasant…
L: Yeah
M: Then you, as a cashier or…or…someone, whoever, whatever your role is
L: Mm hmm
M: That you must always be polite, always be courteous, always smile and accept that the customer is always right, even if they’re not.
L: Right, right.
M: And…and I think that’s tough for anybody to take, if…if that’s your job, you know, you have to bite your tongue, as we would say. Umm…
L: Right, ‘cause customers can be, you know, uninformed, or
M: Yeah
L: Ignorant or in a hurry or, or whatever, but some of them were just so rude, horrible, like taking out all of their frustration on the world, I mean I had customers throw money at me!
M: Huh!
L: Because of, for whatever reason, they were upset about something that had nothing to do with me and they would come through, actually throw their money at me.
M: That’s awful
L: That happened a few times.
M: I would…I would…I would squash their shopping. I had a friend of mine, umm, used to work as a cashier in a supermarket and she told me that whenever a customer was rude to her, she couldn’t be rude back, but what she would do is when she would pack the shopping…so she would have the plastic bag that she would put the things in and instead of…they were taught how you should pack shopping, that you put the heavy, solid stuff in the bottom first, so she would do things like, she would take the bread and the eggs and all the stuff that would squash, put them in the bottom and put the heavy stuff on the top of it!
L: Oh, funny!
M: You know, and that made her feel a bit better, to get a bit of revenge, you know and…
L: Yeah, yeah, but in a way, I mean having been a cashier myself, that…I would not dare to do that because that gives that customer just more reason to complain, because that’s such an obvious sign of incompetence.
M: Of course I mean…
L: Putting the eggs on the bottom.
M: It’s very unprofessional, but it’s umm, you know, uhh
L: I would probably try to look…look at their car and then go out and slash their tires or something later on
M: Hahahahaha
L: It’s like I’m mean, vindictive
M: I know that you’re joking, I know you’re joking!
L: You think I’m joking?
M: I hope you’re joking!
L: Just kidding!
springs to mind
If something springs to mind, it means that it occurs to you, or that you think of
it.
looking over
If someone is looking over you, they are watching you to make sure you
are doing what you are supposed to do.
atmosphere
The atmosphere or climate of a workplace is the general
character or mood of the workplace.
regimented
If something is regimented, it means that it is rigidly structured,
usually with many rules (as in a military organization).
chemist
In British English, a chemist is a person whose job it is to prepare prescription
medicines. The shops that sell medicines are called chemist’s.
pharmacy
American English word for shops that sell prescription medicines. Also
called drugstores or druggist’s. The people who prepare the
medicines are called pharmacists or druggists.
booze
Booze is an informal word for alcohol (usually strong types, such as vodka
and other spirits).
chips and crisps
In American English, chips are paper-thin crispy fried snacks, such as
potato chips or corn chips. In British English, these are called crisps.
In British English, chips are thicker slices of raw potatoes that are
deep fried in oil and usually served as a side dish (such as fish’n’chips).
cash desk
The cash desk (British English) is the place in a shop where you pay for
your items.
feel (really) sorry for
If you feel sorry for someone, you sympathize with them and feel sad because
they are unhappy.
last
In this context, to last (verb) means to continue.
check-stand
The check-stand (American English) is where you go to pay for your items
in a shop or supermarket. The person who takes your money is the cashier
or checker.
running people through
In this context, to run people through means to move them through
the line/queue quickly.
retail
Retail shops and businesses sell goods to the public, usually in small
quantities.
mantra
A mantra (in this context) is a word or phrase that captures an
important idea for a company or business. A company’s mantra is supposed to
guide their business practices.
take
In this case, to take something means to accept it, tolerate
it, or put up with it.
bite your tongue
To bite your tongue is an idiom that means you stop yourself from
saying something that you really want to say, usually because you would cause
trouble if you said it.
squash
To squash something means to crush it with force until it loses
its shape or becomes flat.
back
In this context, back means, in return. For example, “If customers
are rude to you, you can’t be rude back or you will lose your job.”
slash their tires
To slash something means to rip or tear it violently with a sharp
object, such as a knife. Lori would NEVER really slash someone’s tires (unless
they were selfish jerks who totally deserved it).
vindictive
If you are vindictive, you want to harm someone because you think
they have harmed you. You don’t want to forgive them.