Hi. What’s up? Tudo bem? O episódio de hoje é sobre aquela situação onde a pessoa acha melhor ficar quietinha, não falar nada, não criar caso… pois há o risco de dar problema se ela disser alguma coisa. Em outras palavras – um ambiente bem chato… Por outro lado, bom assunto para o pod :-) Ouça já!

Hi. How are you? This is Ana Luiza with a new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. It’s a beautiful day here where I am. Pretty nice day to be recording a podcast.

Today I was thinking that… I had a chat with someone last week about their workplace, and this person was telling me about this company that he works for, and… It’s pretty interesting, I mean… It’s not great because he doesn’t like the environment too much, but pretty interesting in terms of English vocabulary. I thought of a few expressions to describe my friend’s workplace.

Here’s what it’s like. It’s very hierarchical, meaning… you have your boss, then you have your boss’ manager and then you have the director, and then you have the VP… Whatever they say has to be done: there’s no discussion, there’s no arguing, there’s no challenging. What does that mean?

When you challenge someone’s opinion, and that’s something that I guess we do to different degrees all the time… If someone tells you that soccer team XYZ is the best soccer team in the world, you can challenge their opinion by saying: No, they’re not and I’m going to show you why. Actually, team ABC is the best team in the world. You can challenge someone’s opinion by actually showing them that they’re incorrect and explaining to them why you disagree with what they said. That’s what challenging someone’s opinion means.

In my friend’s workplace no one can really challenge anything. If a director or if even your boss says that you have to do this or that, you sort of have to keep your head down and just get on with it. No one challenges anything that comes from above. It’s a very hierarchical environment where people have to just be quiet and the managers and directors and VPs… They will tell employees what they have to do and everyone has basically to keep quiet and just do it.

Here’s an interesting expression that fits the context: make waves. What happens in that environment in my friend’s workplace… People try not to make any waves, they try not to speak up too much, they don’t give many opinions, they don’t disagree, they kind of pretend to like everything, they don’t make any waves…

They don’t want to make any waves, because if you start making waves, if you start voicing your opinion and criticizing, and maybe even coming up with new ideas… My friend said that you will be seen as a troublemaker. It’s really that kind of environment. The bosses… They don’t really want people challenging them very much. If you work in that place and you don’t want to lose your job, you don’t make any waves.

My question for you is: Have you ever worked in a place like that? Maybe you work in a place like that right now! Maybe it’s the place where you feel that in order to keep your job, you’d better not make any waves. Don’t disagree too much, don’t have any bright ideas, just follow orders and do what you’re told.

Is that the kind of place that you work in? Or is it very different? Is it a place that is very open to your ideas and your boss wants to listen to you and you can give your opinions… You can challenge what your boss says and your boss is okay with it?

Let me know. See you next time, bye.

Key expressions

• Challenge someone’s opinions / challenge someone
  
• Make waves
  

Vocabulary

VP (Vice president) = Vice presidente

get on with it = continuar ou seguir em frente com algo

troublemaker = pessoa que frequentemente cria problema

pretend to like everything = fingir gostar de tudo

voice your opinion = dar ou expressão a sua opinião ou ponto de vista

bright ideas = ideias brilhantes (frequentemente usada com ironia)