Daily English 1232 Intimidating a Coworker

Dialogue/Story

Slow Speed begins at: 1:20
Explanation begins at: 3:39
Normal Speed begins at: 18:55

Complete Transcript

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1,232 – Intimidating a Coworker.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 1,232. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

This episode is a dialogue between Larry and Anat about intimidating a coworker – making a coworker feel fearful or somehow afraid. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Larry: How’s it going? You having fun?

Anat: You know full well that this is out of my area of expertise, but I’m coping.

Larry: Is that what you’re doing? It looks to me like you’re making a mess of things.

Anat: Cut me some slack. I’ve only been working on this for a day and it’ll take me a little time to get up to speed.

Larry: You know what I think?

Anat: No and I don’t care.

Larry: I think you’re in over your head. Why don’t you step aside and let someone competent do the job.

Anat: No amount of heckling or trash talking will make me quit. I’m here for the long haul.

Larry: We’ll see about that. People more qualified than you are have packed it in after they got a taste of how things are done around here.

Anat: Talk all you like, but no amount of intimidation will get you what you want.

Larry: And you know what I want?

Anat: I think so. You’d like me to go away with my tail between my legs, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before that happens.

[end of dialogue]

Larry begins our dialogue by asking Anat, “How’s it going?” meaning “How are you doing? How are things going?” “You having fun?” Larry says, meaning “Are you having fun?” Anat says, “You know full well that this is out of my area of expertise, but I’m coping.”

The expression “you know full well” is used when someone pretends they don’t know or understand something, when someone says they don’t understand something, but they really do. It might also be used if you are just confused about why someone is saying something. For example, your wife may say, “Let’s go to the baseball game.” You look at her and you don’t understand why she’s saying that. You may say to her, “You know full well that you don’t like baseball. So why do you want to go?” You’re confused in that case.

Anat isn’t confused. She knows that Larry knows that whatever she’s working on is out of her “area of expertise” (expertise). Your “area of expertise” is something you know a lot about, something that you have a lot of knowledge of. “Expertise” is related to the word “expert.” An “expert” is someone who knows a lot about a certain topic. This thing that Anat is working on is out of her area of expertise, meaning she is not an expert.

She says she’s “coping.” The verb “to cope” (cope) means to manage a difficult or challenging situation, especially when you’re not very good at what you are trying to do or you don’t have the necessary tools or resources to do something. When you are placed in a very difficult or challenging situation, sometimes you don’t have the experience or knowledge or resources – that is, things you can use to help you handle the situation. So you have “to cope” the best you can. You have to manage the situation the best that you are able.

Larry says, “Is that what you’re doing?” He’s surprised that Anat thinks that she’s coping (meaning she’s doing okay but not very well). Larry doesn’t even think she’s doing okay. He says, “It looks to me,” meaning it seems to me, “like you’re making a mess of things.” “To make a mess (mess) of things” means to create a lot of problems by doing things wrong, by doing things incorrectly.

Anat says back to Larry, “Cut me some slack” (slack). The expression “to cut someone some slack” is used informally to mean to make something easier for another person by not being as hard on them or by not trying to give someone a hard time. If you give someone a job, a task, and the person isn’t doing very well at it, you might decide to give the person more time. This would be one way of “cutting the person some slack.”

We also use this expression when someone is giving you a hard time, when someone is criticizing you. You might say to the person criticizing you, “Cut me some slack,” meaning stop being so hard on me, stop criticizing me. That’s the sense that Anat uses this expression here in the dialogue. She’s asking Larry to stop criticizing her. She says, “I’ve only been working on this for a day and it’ll take me a little time to get up to speed.”

The expression “to get up to speed” means to learn something quickly, to get the knowledge and skill that other people have in order to do a certain task. If everyone else knows how to do something and you don’t, you will need “to get up to speed.” You will need to know as much as everyone else does, to learn what everyone else already knows. Larry says to Anat, “You know what I think?” meaning “Do you know what I think?” Anat says, “No and I don’t care,” meaning “I don’t care what you think, Larry.”

Larry, nevertheless, gives his opinion. He says, “I think you’re in over your head.” The expression “to be in over your head” means to be trying to do something that’s too difficult for you – to, we would say, “be overwhelmed” (overwhelmed). “To be overwhelmed” or “to be in over your head” means that you are trying to do something that is too hard for you.

Larry says, “Why don’t you step aside and let someone competent do the job.” “To step aside” (aside) is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to stop doing something so someone else can do it in your place. “To step aside” can sometimes mean to literally move to one side if someone is trying to get by you or if someone is trying to do what you are doing because you aren’t doing a very good job at it. “To be competent” (competent) means to be able to do something well, to have the knowledge or skills to do something.

Larry doesn’t think Anat is competent to do the task she’s doing, but Anat responds, “No amount of heckling or trash talking will make me quit.” “To heckle” (heckle) means to interrupt what someone is doing by yelling at them or saying mean things to them. We usually use this verb when someone is giving a speech, or if a comedian is telling jokes and someone doesn’t like the speaker or the comedian and so the person yells out insulting things at that person to get the person angry or simply to interrupt the person. That’s called “heckling.” “A person in the crowd heckled the speaker.”

“To trash (trash) talk” is to say mean things to another person – insulting things – especially someone against whom you are competing, say, in a game or a sporting event. “To trash talk” means to criticize the performance or abilities of another person. Anat says that she’s not going to quit just because Larry is “heckling” her or “trash talking.” She says, “I’m here for the long haul” (haul). To be somewhere “for the long haul” means for a long time, until the job is done – someone who’s going to do something, even if it’s difficult, until it’s completed.

Larry says, “We’ll see about that.” That expression, “We’ll see (see) about that” is used when you don’t agree with someone else’s prediction, when you don’t agree that what the person is saying is going to be correct. You think the person is wrong and you are right. “People more qualified than you have packed it in after they got a taste of how things are done around here,” Larry says. “To pack (pack) it in” is an expression meaning to give up, to stop doing what you are doing. “To get a taste of things” means to experience something in a small amount so you have a basic understanding of it.

Larry is saying to Anat that once she realizes how things are done in this particular job, she’s going “to pack it in,” because other people who are more qualified, who have more skills than Anat, have quit after they had “gotten a taste of how things are done.” Anat says, “Talk all you like,” meaning you can continue criticizing me and talking, “but no amount of intimidation will get you what you want.”

“Intimidation” (intimidation) is a feeling of fear because you believe someone else is better than you, or stronger than you, or more powerful than you. The verb is “to intimidate.” So, “intimidation” is a state of being intimidated. Anat says she’s not going to be intimidated. She will not feel fear based on what Larry has been saying. She thinks Larry is trying to intimidate her to get what he wants.

Larry says, “And you know what I want?” Anat says, “I think so. You’d like me to go away with my tail between my legs.” The expression “with your tail (tail) between your legs” means to feel embarrassed or humiliated, to feel like a failure. You can think of a dog who is scared, or perhaps afraid of something, running away with its tail between its legs. That indicates, at least we think, that the dog is somehow afraid of something. Anat says she’s not going to go away with her tail between her legs, feeling humiliated or powerless.

She says, in fact, “It’ll be a cold day in hell before that happens.” The expression “it will be a cold day in hell” is used to show that something is impossible, that something will never happen. We think of hell as being a hot place – traditionally, anyway – so it could never be cold in hell, and therefore that is impossible. So, if you say, “It will be a cold day in hell before (whatever it is you think won’t happen),” you’re saying that that thing is impossible, just as it would be impossible for it to be cold in a hot place like hell.

There’s another related expression, “You have a snowball’s chance in hell.” A “snowball” (snowball) is, of course, a little ball made out of snow, which is cold. Once again, it’s the same idea. There are no snowballs in hell because hell is a hot place, therefore what you are saying or predicting is impossible.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Larry: How’s it going? You having fun?

Anat: You know full well that this is out of my area of expertise, but I’m coping.

Larry: Is that what you’re doing? It looks to me like you’re making a mess of things.

Anat: Cut me some slack. I’ve only been working on this for a day and it’ll take me a little time to get up to speed.

Larry: You know what I think?

Anat: No and I don’t care.

Larry: I think you’re in over your head. Why don’t you step aside and let someone competent do the job.

Anat: No amount of heckling or trash talking will make me quit. I’m here for the long haul.

Larry: We’ll see about that. People more qualified than you are have packed it in after they got a taste of how things are done around here.

Anat: Talk all you like, but no amount of intimidation will get you what you want.

Larry: And you know what I want?

Anat: I think so. You’d like me to go away with my tail between my legs, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before that happens.

[end of dialogue]

Our scriptwriter’s area of expertise is writing brilliant scripts to help you learn English. Thank you, Dr. Lucy Tse. Certainly the most competent scriptwriter on the internet.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. I usually make a mess of things, but come back and listen to us anyway, right here on ESL Podcast.

Glossary

to know full well – to know something entirely and very clearly, especially when one is pretending not to know or understand something

You know full well that Harold will never agree to your proposal, so why are you wasting everyone’s time talking about it?

area of expertise – the subject or field in which one has a lot of knowledge and experience

Lola’s degree is in microbiology, but her area of expertise is evolutionary biology.

to cope – to manage; to find a way to handle or deal with something that is difficult or challenging, especially when one does not have the necessary tools or experience for handling it

How did you cope when your wife died so suddenly?

to make a mess of things – to create a lot of problems by doing something incorrectly

We tried to fix the car on our own, but we made a mess of things and had to take it to the mechanic.

to cut (someone) some slack – to stop giving someone a hard time; to make something easier for another person; to stop teasing someone

I know I’m making a lot of mistakes, but cut me some slack. I just started learning how to play the violin a few months ago.

to get up to speed – to learn very rapidly and achieve the same knowledge or skill as other people and meet others’ expectations for performance * With proper training, we can help our new employees get up to speed more quickly.

in over (one’s) head – overwhelmed; involved in something too deeply and without the skills or tools to deal with it

When the teacher found out he would be teaching a subject he wasn’t trained to teach, he knew he was in over his head and asked a veteran teacher for help.

to step aside – to get out of the way so that someone else can do something; to minimize one’s involvement or stop participating so that other people can take the lead

No, that’s not right. Step aside so I can show you how it should be done. competent – able to do something well enough; with adequate skills and knowledge to do something correctly
Being competent is not enough. We are looking for someone who can excel in this new position.

to heckle – to taunt or tease someone, especially interrupting what that person is doing

Protestors began heckling the political candidate during her speech.

to trash talk– to say mean things about another person to make him or her feel less confident or capable

We were shocked to hear the coach trash talk the other team.

for the long haul – for a long time, over a long distance, or relating to a long and difficult task; not short-term or temporary

The mayor said that she was committed to improving schools for the long haul.

we’ll see about that – a phrase used when one does not agree with another person’s prediction about the future, meaning that time will show who is correct * Blake keeps saying he’s going to win the competition, but we’ll see about that. He doesn’t know how well prepared we are.

to pack it in – to stop what one is doing; to give up

If this storm worsens, we’ll have to pack it in and get off the mountain.

to get a taste of – to experience something in a small way, or to experience a small amount of something, so that one has a basic understanding of it * It’s a good idea to visit college campuses to get a taste of each university before you apply for admission.

intimidation – a feeling of fear and inferiority because someone else seems bigger, stronger, more powerful, intelligent, or competent

We are using intimidation to make the other players feel less confident.

with (one’s) tail between (one’s) legs – feeling humiliated, embarrassed,

powerless, rejected, and cowardly; feeling like a failure

James wanted to conquer the world, but a few years later, he came back to his hometown with his tail between his legs.

it’ll be cold day in hell – a phrase used to mean that something will never happen; it’s impossible

Why would I apologize to her? It’ll be a cold day in hell before that happens.

Comprehension Questions

1. What does Anat mean when she says, “Cut me some slack”?
a) She wants Larry to help.
b) She wants Larry to stop teasing her.
c) She wants Larry to clean up the mess.

2. Why does Larry say, “I think you’re in over your head”?
a) He thinks Anat is too short.
b) He thinks Anat is immature.
c) He thinks Anat will fail.

Answers at bottom.

What Else Does It Mean?

to know full well
The phrase “to know full well,” in this podcast, means to know something entirely and very clearly, especially when one is pretending not to know or understand something: “Why did you ask Gerome to join us at the bar when you know full well he doesn’t drink?” The phrases “to know (something) inside out” and “to know (something) backwards and forwards” mean to know something extremely well or perfectly: “Loren has been working here for 30 years. She knows this company inside out.” Or, “Lee is the person to ask. He knows contract law backwards and forwards.” Finally, the phrase “to know (one’s) way around (something)” means to be very familiar with something so that one is confident and knows how to do something: “Bryan has been working on trucks since he was a child, so he really knows his way around diesel engines.”

to pack it in
In this podcast, the phrase “to pack it in” means to stop what one is doing or to give up: “This isn’t working. Let’s pack it in and try again tomorrow.” The phrase “to pack up means to put something into boxes for storage or sale: “It’s going to take hours to pack up these books.” The phrase “to pack on the pounds” means to gain a lot of weight very quickly: “When Isaac broke his leg and couldn’t exercise for a few weeks, he really packed on the pounds.” The phrase “to pack a punch” means to have a strong, significant impact or effect: “Wow, that drink really packs a punch!” Or, “His critical comments really packed a punch.” Finally, the phrase “to pack a gun” means to carry a gun: “Do police officers pack a gun all the time?”

Culture Note

Common New Hire Orientation

When new employees “come on board” (begin working at a company), they typically are required to participate in certain “orientation” (the process of becoming familiar with something) activities. Some of these are “mundane” (uninteresting and boring), such as filling out employment “paperwork” (forms), setting up “direct deposit” (a process for having payments placed in one’s bank account automatically), creating “passwords” (secret codes for entering a computer program), and getting “identification badges” (small tags worn around the neck with one’s name and photo, permitting access to a building). But other orientation activities are more “interactive” (involving communication with other people).

Some orientation activities are designed to help “new hires” (people who recently began working for the organization) become more familiar with the organization. These might include tours of the building, presentations on the history of the organization, and introductions to “key” (very important) staff members and executives.

Other orientation activities are designed to “foster” (encourage; help something grow or develop) team-building and other relationships. These might include “trust-building exercises” to help employees learn to “rely” (depend) on each other and become familiar with each other’s “personality” (characteristics of how one behaves) and preferred work styles.

Still other orientation activities focus on job skills. These are training sessions that teach new hires how to “excel” (perform very well) in their job. The sessions might provide training to become familiar with specific software used by the company, to learn how to enter expenses in the accounting system, or to follow the company’s “style guide” (a detailed book with many rules for written communication).

Comprehension Answers

1 - b

2 - c