ESL Podcast 452 - Dealing with Unhappy Employees

to get stuck with (something) - to be forced to do something that is unpleasant or boring; to have to do something that one doesn't want to do

Why do I get stuck washing dishes every night?

complaint - something negative that is said or written, explaining what one is unhappy about and why

Clarke asked to speak to the store manager so that he could make a complaint about the new higher prices.

morale - the way that a group of people, especially employees, feel in general, especially about whether they like their job

The manager improved employees' morale when she started giving them free pizza each Friday.

overworked - having worked too much and too hard; being tired from having worked too much or for too long

Last week, three of the five secretaries were on vacation and the other two felt very overworked because they had to do everything.

underpaid - not receiving enough money for the work that one is doing; feeling that one should be paid more for one's work

Keenan feels really underpaid, so he's going to ask his boss for more money.

to burn out - to become tired from having done too much of something for too long, and not wanting to do that thing anymore

Alicia used to love working as a lawyer, but after six years of 12-hour workdays, she's burned out and wants to become a teacher instead.

disgruntled - unhappy, disappointed, and angry because something didn't happen the way that one wanted it to

The employees became very disgruntled when the company president announced that they would have to pay for parking.

to voice - to express something in words; to speak; to say something

Some parents called the teacher to voice their concerns about the books that their children were reading in the classroom.

grievance - complaint; something negative that is said or written, explaining what one is unhappy about and why, especially if one thinks that something is unfair or that one has been treated unfairly

The female employees have a grievance because they aren't being paid as much as male employees who do the same jobs.

on paper - in writing; written

The young man has agreed to sell us the car for just $1,800, but we won't believe it until we see it on paper.

retaliation - revenge; something that one does to hurt another person after one has been hurt by that person; something that one does to get even with the person who is responsible for something bad that happened to oneself

When Verna accidentally lost her brother's watch, he hid her necklace as retaliation.

to resolve - to solve; to address; to fix and end a problem

The company said that it would resolve my problem in two days, but I still haven't heard back from them.

blown out of proportion - treated as being much more important or serious than something actually is

When the airline employee heard a passenger joking that he had a bomb, it was blown out of proportion and the police came to arrest him.

on the contrary - a phrase used to show that something is completely the opposite of what came before it; a phrase used to show that one completely disagrees with what was just said

Bryce thinks the movie was too loud, but on the contrary, I could hardly hear what the actors were saying!

dysfunctional - not working properly, especially when people have bad relationships with each other

Carlita comes from a dysfunctional family where her father left when she was just a baby and her mother is hardly ever at home. (one's) back up against the wall - in a position where one doesn't have any options or choices and is forced to do something

When the landlord raised our rent, we had our backs up against the wall, because we had to pay more if we wanted to continue living there.