A Day in a Small Business
Good morning. I hope you had a good night's sleep because we have a lot of stuff going on today.
He means the schedule is packed today and they will be busy.
Good morning, Ian. I am well rested and [vocab word=energized]energized[/vocab].
Great. Have you checked the orders that came in yesterday?
Yes. I just called the Johnsons and they said they wanted to [vocab word=go ahead with]go ahead with[/vocab] the move. They also paid the deposit over the phone.
"they said they wanted to go ahead with the move" is an example of reported speech. In a reported speech, we change simple present ("they want to go ahead") to simple past ("they wanted to go ahead").
Great. When is the move? Where are they moving to?
They told me that they had to move to the States the next month.
In a reported speech, "next week", "next month" etc are changed to "the next week", "the next month" etc.
Alright. We'll have to send two guys that can go to the States. How about the Smiths? Have they confirmed the date of move, yet?
No, they haven't. They said they would tell us the next week.
In a reported speech, we change "will" into "would".
Well, [vocab word=follow up]follow up[/vocab] with them early next week. They can't keep on delaying the move.
Also, could you check if Williams & Associate have paid their final [vocab word=invoice]invoice[/vocab]? We finished moving their office last week.
They said they would pay it the following week, so they may have paid it already. Let me just check our records... Yes, they have paid their invoice already.
In a reported speech, instead of "the next week", you can also say "the following week".
Excellent! Now, have we assigned movers to Mr. Thompson's move? The move is in two days.
I have, but, he actually cancelled his move just this morning, believe it or not. He said he had found a better company so he would no longer need our services.
"believe it or not" is a common English expression. You use it when you are about to share some information that might seem unbelievable or surprising.
In a reported speech, we change simple past ("he found a better company") to past perfect ("he had found a better company").
Seriously? What an unbelievable guy! Okay, we are not returning the deposit. Make sure you don't cut him a [vocab word=check]check[/vocab].
To "cut a check" means to issue a check (or cheque in British spelling).
I know. Our [vocab word=cancellation]cancellation[/vocab] policy requires clients to cancel 72 hours before the move, or there will be no [vocab word=refund]refund[/vocab].
Good. Assign the movers to Cavanaugh's move.
Well, Ben and Zeke [vocab word=be supposed to]were supposed to[/vocab] do Mr. Thompson's move. I can assign them to Cavanaugh's, but Zeke has just finished his training. Cavanaugh's move involves moving an [vocab word=antique]antique[/vocab] [vocab word=organ]organ[/vocab]. Are you sure Zeke can handle it?
"be supposed to" is used to describe what is expected of a person or what rules they are expected to follow.
Has Zeke moved organs or pianos before?
He said he had never moved large instruments before.
In a reported speech, we change present perfect ("he has never moved large instruments") to past perfect ("he had never moved large instruments").
I think it's alright, but assign another mover just in case. Also, I'll ask Ben to [vocab word=look after]look after[/vocab] Zeke. Is Ben coming in to the office today?
Yes, he told me yesterday that he would come in today.
Good. I'll talk to him. Thanks for keeping me up to date.
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