English at Work 
Episode 8: Room 301 (Giving praise)

Paul: Good afternoon.

Anna & Tom: Hi, good afternoon.
Paul: Anna, Tom, room 301 please. Now.

Narrator: [bad word] back to Tip Top Trading, where things are a teeny bit tense today. Paul has called Tom and Anna into room 301, the place where difficult conversations happen. Perhaps Paul has found out about yesterday's unhappy clients.

Anna: Oh dear.

Narrator: You should be okay Anna. After the way you coped with Mr Lime, you should be praised.

Anna: Really? What do you think Paul will say?

Narrator: Well, if he is pleased, he'll say things like:

Well done.
You handled it well.
Great job.
I'm really impressed.

Anna: And if he's not?

Narrator: Well, I suppose – oop. Here’s Paul now!

Paul: Well, Tom, Anna... Yesterday was not a great day. Two clients came in with [bad word]  Mrs Kumquat received a delivery of imitation bananas that were purple, not very convincing. And Mr Lime ordered [bad word]  but got pineapples. Tom.

Tom: Yes.

Paul: Were you responsible for these errors?

Tom: Well... yes, but…

Paul: Look, mistakes happen. But it seems that Mrs Kumquat left our offices even angrier than when she came in and she says she will never use Tip Top Trading again.

Tom: I tried my best.

Paul: Hmmm. I understand you told her to spray-paint the bananas and to 'stop being such a miserable old witch'.

Tom: Yeah, well look, she'd been [bad word] to me.

Paul: If you weren't such a good salesman I would fire you for that. Anna.

Anna: Yes.

Paul: Well done. Not only was Mr Lime satisfied that his problem would be resolved, but we might even get some extra business from him, thanks to your Imperial Lemon proposal.

Anna: I hope so.

Paul: You were in a difficult situation and you handled it well. You remained calm, friendly and professional. So, great job. I'm really impressed. I'm going to… (phone rings)

Paul: Who's that? Oh no. It's a call from the USA.

Tom: Oh god!

Anna: What?

Tom: It’s the boss!

Anna: Whose boss?

Tom: Ours! The big, big boss, based in America.

Paul: Shhhh! (on the phone) Hellooo? Ah, good afternoon Mr Socrates, I mean, er- morning, ha ha, where you are it's … yes, no, n-yes …. I'm not sure.
Mrs Kumquat … did she? … well, it was very unfortunate …. purple, yes …. totally unacceptable …. I will. If you'd like I could …. Mr Socrates? Hello? Mr Socrates? Oh, he's gone. Right where was I? Tom, great work. Anna, I'm disappointed. No, no, Anna, great work, I want you to take charge of the Imperial Lemon presentation. Tom, if you speak to a client like that again there will be disciplinary action. Mrs Kumquat was so angry she even emailed Mr Socrates. Ok, that’s it.

Narrator: Phew! What a relief for Anna. Let's listen again to some of the phrases Paul used to praise her:

Well done.
You were in a difficult situation and you handled it well.
So, great job. I'm really impressed.

He also explained why he thought Anna had done a good job:

You remained calm, friendly and professional.
Excellent work Anna. But Tom's mistakes have given everyone a lot of work to do tomorrow.

Paul: First thing tomorrow we need to sort this mess out. Tom, I want you to phone every single client and check the orders. Anna, you can go to the warehouse and find out what's going on in there!
 [bad word] question: In which country is the ‘big boss’ of Tip Top Trading based?

Answer: America / United States