Lesson W - (1320-1363)
easy insult* theirs wheat
cabinet program steal crisis
channel affect project* normal
minor mob blank script jury
document smart civilian beer
investigate withdraw betray global
gang fog revolt communicate
conference fertile fist offensive
navy challenge radiation cash
goal cheese debate nerve
transport* traffic spy
Business Words: nod flaw raw familiar inject stow sneak senior intimidate upcoming
And now for your Lesson W story..........Sound.mp3?
THE SUPERVISOR MEETING
When Tim's two new people, Fred and Lester, came in, Carmelita helped by familiarizing them with the factory. She showed them what their upcoming work would be. During that time, Tim went to his first supervisor's conference with Jerry.
"I think some of my people have been stealing tools," said Ralph, one of the supervisors.
"Maybe they are just borrowing theirs," said Tony, a senior supervisor in the machine shop, "to use around their home. We should investigate it."
"What's to investigate?" said Ralph, trying to intimidate Tony. "Borrowing without asking is stealing."
"Borrowing without asking and not bringing them back is stealing," said Jerry, not wanting a debate. He put his fist on the table, in a kind of challenge. "This is not a crisis, but they shouldn't be taking tools away for home use, anyway. So this is easy to fix in a normal way. Everyone, please talk to your people. Don't insult them, but tell them anyone borrowing tools from here gets fired for stealing the first time they are caught. I'll be the jury. OK?"
Everyone nodded.
"OK, gang. Anything else?" Jerry asked the group.
"On these parts for the Navy," said Tony, "we get a lot of minor flaws that affect our workload."
"How so?" asked Jerry.
"Well, they've got that nerve gas and radiation stuff that they transport in the cabinets we make to global locations," said Tony, "so the doors have to fit perfectly."
"I guess it is time for you to communicate what you told me, Tim." Jerry said. "You all know Tim, don't you?"
Everyone knew that Tim was a new supervisor. Everyone nodded with a blank look, waiting.
"Well," said Tim, "it seemed to me we could get smarter about the goal of delivering the raw parts in better condition to be finished."
"That would sure help our traffic flow." said Tony.
"How does this mob accomplish that?" asked Ralph.
"Well, we start a program to train my people to be inspectors and not just transporters."
"They'll revolt," said Ralph, taking the offensive. "or they'll withdraw inside themselves and won't want to betray their ignorance."
"I'll need all your help on this project." said Tim. "They're in a fog now but we can channel them into being good inspectors."
"How will they learn to be inspectors?" said Tony.
"Well, one guy I hired, Fred, used to be parts inspector for the Navy."
"Maybe he was a spy." said Ralph.
"No, he showed us documentation of his job in the Navy." said Jerry, "And he's a civilian now, and he's ours."
"And I think my new people have fertile minds." said Tim "How can they revolt? They're new on the job. They've never known anything different. They'll just follow whatever script you all write."
"Sounds great to us," said Tony, and a few other supervisors.
"Then they'd better inspect stuff so it doesn't get through and have to be sent back, " said Ralph.
"Well that's the idea, Ralph," said Jerry, and everyone laughed at Ralph. Then Jerry said to the group: "Tell you what, after work I've got some wheat bread and cheese and beer. No cash needed."
"One more question," injected Ralph. "If they've already got tools stowed away at home, do they have to sneak them back in to work?
Another Story? More Ready-to-Use?
OR
affect -- to have an effect upon
(to Story)
beer -- a grain beverage which has a small amount of
alchohol (to Story)
betray -- to be disloyal
(to Story)
blank -- surface not written or printed on
(to Story)
cabinet -- piece of furniture to store things
(to Story)
cash -- money in the form of paper-bills or metal
(to Story)
challenge -- an invitation to compete, to debate a point of view
(to Story)
channel -- a body of water joining two larger ones, a television broadcasting station
v. a method of giving things out to others (to Story)
cheese -- food made from milk (to Story)
civilian -- a person in civil life, not in the armed forces
(to Story)
communicate -- to give and receive information
(to Story)
conference -- a meeting (to Story)
crisis -- a difficult turning point (to Story)
debate -- to discuss reasons for or against
(to Story)
document -- a paper with information on it
(to Story)
easy -- not difficult to do (to Story)
familiar -- seeming like something you
know (to Story)
fertile -- able to reproduce (to Story)
fist -- the hand closed firmly (to Story)
flaw -- a mistake in a product (to Story)
fog -- a cloud of fine drops of water above the earth's surface which limits what one can see
(to Story)
gang -- a group of people acting or going around together
(to Story)
global -- of the earth as a whole (to Story)
goal -- a purpose (to Story)
inject -- slip into something else;
sometimes a doctor injects you (to Story)
insult* -- an offensive remark. v. insult
- to make an offensive remark (to Story)
intimidate -- make someone frightened
(to Story)
investigate -- to search into carefully
(to Story)
jury -- a group of persons chosen to judge
(to Story)
minor -- lesser in amount, size, or importance; small
(to Story)
mob -- a large number of people, a crowd (to Story)
navy -- all the ships of war of a country
(to Story)
nerve -- channels which connect different parts of the body for orders or
information (to Story)
nod -- move your head down and back up;
saying yes or falling asleep (to Story)
normal -- of the usual type (to Story)
offensive -- starting the fight
against something (to Story)
program -- a listing of events for a public presentation;
also a list of things for computer operations to do (to Story)
project* -- a plan v. project
- to show on a screen or to plan ahead (to Story)
radiation -- the act of spreading out from a centre
(to Story)
raw -- in the first form, as in food which is not cooked or
processed (to Story)
revolt -- to fight against a leader
(to Story)
script -- something written by hand (to Story)
senior -- older than others, or with more
experience (to Story)
smart -- intelligent
(to Story)
sneak -- to move carefully so others don't see what you are
doing (to Story)
spy -- a person who keeps secret watch on the actions of others
(to Story)
steal -- to take without the owner's permission
(to Story)
stow -- put away or hide something (to Story)
theirs -- belonging to them (pronoun)
(to Story)
traffic -- the amount of vehicles on roads, or people
who come to a store or bank (to Story)
transport* -- to carry from one place to another
(to Story)
upcoming -- something that will happen
in a short time from now (to Story)
wheat -- the substance with which you make bread, or
sometimes beer (to Story)
withdraw -- draw back
(to Story)