COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
You’re listening to ESLPod.com’s “Using English at Work” lesson 10. I’m your
host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, from the Center for Educational Development.
In the ninth lesson of “Using English at Work,” we learned vocabulary related to
leaving the office at the end of the day. In this 10th and final lesson, we’re going
to talk about socializing with coworkers.
We’ll get started by listening to our story first at a slow speed.
[start of script]
When I walk past Van’s desk on my way out of the office, I see that he’s talking
to a group of people. He stops me and asks if I want to go with them to happy
hour at the restaurant and bar down the street. It has been a busy week and I
need to blow off some steam. On top of that, I don’t have any big plans for the
evening, so I say, “yes.”
Eight of us walk down the street to Steve’s Cantina. We find a table in the back
of the bar and look at the drinks menu. Happy hour is from 4 to 7 p.m., and the
drinks are half price. We order our drinks and I go to get some snacks and
appetizers. I look at the food that’s available and I see a lot of deep-fried foods
and chips and dip, so I load up and go back to the table.
One of the guys, Brian, starts to grumble about work and to bad-mouth the boss.
I’m in no mood to talk about work, so I change the subject. I ask everybody what
his or her plans are for the weekend. Diana says that she’s planning to kick back
and relax. Rodrigo said he has a hot date. Van tells us a funny story about the
last date he went on that didn’t go very well. We have a good laugh over it.
We all have a great time at happy hour and it’s a good way to kick off the
weekend!
[end of script]
Our final story begins with me walking past Van’s desk as I’m leaving the office. I
see that he is talking with a group of other people. He stops me as I walk by and
asks me if I want to go with them to happy hour at a restaurant and bar down the
street. A “happy hour” is a short period of time, usually one, two, perhaps three
hours in the late afternoon and weekdays when many bars have drinks and food
that costs less than usual. Bars have happy hours to get more customers to