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Professor James Bell's office English column
English for office emergencies
There's nothing like an emergency at work to spice up another routine day at the office. Check out this office lingo that you may hear your boss using when things aren't going to plan, when a project is running late, or when the stock-market has crashed!
Working late to meet a deadline
In today's high-pressure world of business, setting and meeting deadlines is a tricky prospect. A well-managed project plan will have a realistic timeframe and will be pleasing to the customer. An overly-optimistic timeframe may result in a tight deadline and employees having to work late into the night, what we call burning the midnight oil.
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Successfully meeting a deadline
Despite everyone in the office burning the midnight oil for the last week, it was uncertain whether that deadline would be met in time. Fortunately, everyone's hard work has paid off and you've met the deadline by the skin of your teeth! This means that you have managed to do something just in time!
When things don't work out as expected
What seemed like a good solution to a problem may in practice turn out to be insufficient. In such cases we say we have to go back to the drawing board. This literally means that we need to look for new solutions and to design a better plan.
Recovering a frustrated customer
Few things create problems in business more than an unhappy customer, especially if that customer is worth a lot of money to the business! Never fear, use a variety of service skills, sweet-talk and some good old-fashioned apologies to butter-up the customer. Don't worry, this doesn't mean spreading butter on your customer; it simply means making your customer feel satisfied and cooperative!
Managing a disaster
Once in a while some really major problem will arise that has serious negative consequences - a stock market crash or a take-over of the company, for example. To keep the business alive in such circumstances, it may be necessary to perform what we call a damage limitation exercise by merging projects, cutting jobs or even closing whole departments.
More office English tips from James!
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Ask James James answers all of your office English worries!
Q:Dear James,
My foreign colleague is so noisy in office. I wanna tell him to keep quiet, but I don't know how to say it politely. Would you help me, James?! Jean, Paris
A:Dear Jean, I understand that it is difficult to work when someone is making a lot of noise. To get your colleague to quiet down without offending him, why don't you try this the next time he starts to get loud. Simply turn around and say in a quiet, polite voice "Would you mind keeping your voice down a little? I think that people are trying to work. Thanks!" Then give him a big smile and he should get the idea. Best,James
Q:Dear James,
I would like to send a formal proposal to a new client, but I never know if I should use "Miss", "Ms" or "Mrs" when writing. Please help! Ed, Seoul, Korea
A:Dear Ed, Here is the rule for titles. "Miss" and "Mrs." bear reference to that woman's marital status. If she is not married, then she is "Miss Smith". If she is married, they you would refer to her as "Mrs. Smith". If you don"t know the marital status of your new client, the best would be to use "Ms. Smith", which does not refer to her marital status at all. Best,James
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