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Working Holiday

My name is Liz. My husband and I are on holiday at a beautiful resort in Hawaii right now. Well, I'm on holiday anyway. You see, Rick brought both his cell phone and his laptop computer with him, and since we arrived here a few days ago, he keeps checking his voice-mail and email messages, and calling his office. As soon as we wake up in the morning, the first thing he does is turn on his computer, and then he checks his messages again two or three times before lunch. It's the same thing all afternoon… we can't even relax on the beach or go sightseeing without his phone ringing and him talking to his colleagues about their important business matters. I'm so annoyed! This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation, but Rick is working almost all the time. He's been so busy at the office this past year, and I was really looking forward to spending some time alone with him in Hawaii, but even on vacation, all he ever thinks about is work-work-work.

I'm Rick. I don't know why Liz is so upset with me. She really wanted to take a vacation together, and even though I'm very busy at work right now, I conceded. Yes, I'll admit: I have been checking my voice-mail and email, and calling the office several times a day. But, I have no choice. We're in the middle of a major project, and if anything goes wrong while I'm away, there will be serious consequences. I'm trying to spend as much time as I can with my wife while we're here in Hawaii, but she has to understand: I can't just walk away from my responsibilities at work. I'm an executive with my company, and my salary provides us with a comfortable lifestyle, including this trip to Hawaii. Unfortunately, my increased responsibilities also mean that sometimes, we have to make sacrifices.

Discussion Questions - Beginner Level:

1. Do you think Liz has a good reason to be upset with Rick? Why?
2. When you go on holiday, do you take your cell phone or your laptop computer with you? Why or why not?
3. Do you check your home or office messages while you are away? Why or why not?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being able to check messages while you are on holiday?

Discussion Questions - Intermediate to Advanced Levels:

5. Why does Rick feel that Liz should be more understanding? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
6. Who do you think is being more selfish: Liz or Rick?
7. How do you suggest they resolve their disagreement?
8. Which would you prefer:
   1. to have a high paying job with lots of responsibility , but not be able to take holidays without "staying connected" to your office via voice-mail and email everyday
   2. to have a low paying job with limited responsibility, but be able to take holidays without having to worry about staying in touch with your office everyday

Explain your answer.

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レッスン後の Nicole 先生からのフィードバックです。

Thank you for taking my lesson this week. It was a pleasure to speak with you again!

REVIEW OF LESSON 2: WORKING HOLIDAY
Overall, you did very well in this lesson. Your summary of the situation with Liz and Rick was excellent, and it showed your thorough understanding of the subject. Moreover, you answered the questions appropriately and clearly, and you expressed several interesting points of view. BRAVO!

Because you are a wife and a career woman, you were able to empathize with both Liz and Rick, and therefore understand each point of view. You expressed that while you understand how Liz feels, you also understand why Rick cannot leave his work completely -even when he's on vacation. It was interesting to learn that you were once in a situation similar to Rick's, when you had to take your mobile phone and your laptop on vacation during year-end.

I was especially impressed when you said that although Rick feels that Liz should be more understanding because his job provides her with a comfortable lifestyle, the "comfortable lifestyle" isn't necessarily what she wants - what she actually wants from Rick is his time and full attention. This is an excellent point! Perhaps Liz enjoys her comfortable lifestyle, but she's also very lonely. This is sad

I liked your suggestions for how they can resolve this situation: that Rick should try to schedule private time with Liz, and that Liz should try to find other ways to keep busy (ex: she could get a job or become a volunteer).

I was not surprised to hear you say that you would prefer to have a job with a lot of responsibility, because this gives you a feeling of accomplishment, fulfillment and satisfaction.

HINTS:

1. Lieu Day: The word "lieu" is actually a French word which means "instead"; we commonly use it in English too. You said you had to work during your holiday, so your boss gave you some days off later, as compensation. In this case, when you take an extra day off because you had to work on your holiday, you can say you had a "lieu day" (which means you had a day off later, instead of your regular day off or holiday). Ex: "I had to work on the weekend, so my boss gave me two lieu days."
2. Delete: When you were talking about checking your email messages everyday when you are on holiday, you said "I can put them on the garbage box". In this case, it would be better to say "I can delete them".
3. You said "When I started working in this company..."; next time, please say "When I started working for this company..."

Well done! I enjoyed our lively discussion on this topic, and I hope to speak with you again soon.

Bye for now,
Nicole