Today is "Súper lunes" in Chile! It's been a bit chaotic but hopefully we're all managing to adjust to being back from summer vacation and focus on our work. Speaking of work, I had a huge dilemma at my job last week! Read about what happened AND learn some common work expressions.
Last week I had to prepare for a really important meeting about the 2023 budget. I needed to touch base (1) with a few colleagues in order to get all of the information for the presentation. Unfortunately, for me, most of my coworkers were on vacation since it was the last week of summer break. I sent all three of them emails last Monday but by Thursday no one had responded. So, I had to call each one of them on the phone to touch base (1) about the meeting and make sure we were all ready to do the budget presentation.
I definitely had my work cut out for me (2) since I was the only one at the office and the deadline was coming up soon! I did the best I could by myself but I ended up having to pull a few strings (3) with the administrative team in order to get one of them to help me access some receipts from the 2022 financial documents that the company usually doesn't allow non-administrative staff to see.
We had the 2023 budget presentation this morning and I was so nervous that I only got a few hours of sleep last night. Overall, it went well, considering it was challenging to prepare for with so few colleagues in the office. More than once I had to remember some data off the top of my head (4). Luckily, I sent a follow-up email after in order to verify the answers I gave during the meeting.
Overall, the budget meeting was a success! I was really grateful when it was over since I had worked so hard all last week to prepare for it. Now, I can finally relax and focus on catching up (5) on my other work.
1. touch base: to talk to someone for a short amount of time, usually briefly
· Hi Pablo! I just wanted to touch base and see how you’re doing
· Let’s touch base next week to see how the project is going
2. to have your work cut out (for you): to have something really difficult to do
· Felipe definitely has his work cut out with the three reports he has to do
· They were up until 2 am working. They’ve really got their work cut out for them!
3. pull a few strings: to use your influence and connections to get something important done
· It wasn’t easy but I pulled a few strings in order to get you an interview at my company
· The only reason he got into that school is because his parent’s pulled a few strings with
the president of the university
4. off the top of (one’s) head: to know something immediately (without much or careful consideration)
· Off the top of my head, the budget is around $200,000 but I’ll have to check the figures
when I have access to my computer
· She can list the capital cities of every country in the world off the top of her head!
·
5. catch up: to do something you didn’t have time to do earlier
· After that party last night, I just want to catch up on some sleep
· Everyone is struggling to catch up on their work since we were all on holiday last week
What expressions do you want to learn in English?! Write in the comments below or write me at monicajones4276@gmail.com / @monicayourprofe 😊
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