📙 Part 2: Describe a rule that is important in your school or at work

This episode's vocabulary

Procedure (noun) - a set of actions that is the official or accepted way of doing something.

To designate (verb) - to say officially that a place or thing has a particular character or purpose.

Time off (noun) - a period of time when you do not work because of illness or holidays, or because your employer has given you permission to do something else.

Downtime (noun) - time when you relax and do not do very much.

To bend the rules (idiom) - to break the rules in a way that you consider unimportant or not harmful.

To launch into something (phrasal verb) - to suddenly begin doing or saying (something) in an energetic way.

Guideline (noun) - information intended to advise people on how something should be done or what something should be.

Principle (noun) - a basic idea or rule that explains or controls how something happens or works.

Governing (adj.) - having a controlling influence on something.

Never-ending (adj.) - something that is never-ending never ends or seems as if it will never end.

To burn (yourself) out (phrasal verb) - to be forced to stop working because you have become ill or very tired from working too hard.

Religiously (adj.) - if you do something religiously, you do it regularly.

To break (verb) - to fail to obey or follow a law, rule, or promise.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, I haven't worked for a place with sets of rules and procedures for about a year and higher. But I suppose the most important one for me, even though it's an informal and unwritten one is no work at the weekends or in the holidays. It's just like what it sounds, really. Regardless of what else is happening, absolutely no work has to be done during designated time off or downtime. I say it's a rule, but like I also said, it's not a hard and fast thing and I do bend at some times when I'm bored or when something really needs to be done. Since I've worked for myself, when that does happen, it's not like I can take disciplinary or administrative action against myself. But I definitely make sure it's something that has to be done with new alternatives before I launch into whatever it is I have to do. So, really, it's more of a guideline or a principle rather than anything else, maybe a governing principle. I'd say it's pretty essential because otherwise, I'd be spending my time engaging with the never-ending list of things I need to do, like planning lessons and courses and, oh, doing research, for example, for different projects. Contacting students and preparing different presentations. While I love my job, I would prefer to have time for the people and the casual activities in my life, rather than just work all the time and run the risk of burning myself out. I suppose, ultimately, that's why I stick to it more often than not. If I didn't have a rule like this in my life, then I'd be pretty useless to other people in the end, including myself. Even if I don't follow it religiously, I still find it useful for preserving myself and my free time and all that energy that I need to do the things I love, like seeing my friends and going to the gym. The stuff that makes life worth living.

M: And do you always follow rules?

R: Oh no, I'm quite notorious for breaking the rules.

Discussion

M: Right, dear listener. So what is the topic, huh? Describe a rule that's important in your school or at work. So Rory talked about the rule "no work at the weekends" or "no work in the holidays". But Rory works for himself. You see? So what other rules can we talk about here?

R: Oh, gosh. Well, we could talk about something similar that most workplaces have, which is designated work hours. If you work, you must work within these hours. And if you don't, then you're in trouble.

M: Yeah. Or, for example, where certain clothes. So if you have some dress code, this could be a rule at school or at work. Or a rule, I don't know. What else do we have? Rules. No smoking rule. There we go. At work. Or a rule like casual Friday, so you can wear jeans on a Friday. Okay? So please choose a rule, which is easy for you to talk about. Here's some vocabulary about rules and regulations you can say. Regulations.

R: I should have said that. I should have said rules and regulations, not rules and procedures.

M: Oh, procedures. Yeah. You said procedures.

R: Yeah.

M: Like rules, procedures, regulations. And we say a set of rules. So for example, I've been working for this company. I've been working for Google. And there are sets of rules and procedures, or I've worked for blah, blah, blah. And I'm going to tell you about the rules of the dress code. The rule could be informal and unwritten. So an unwritten rule. So it's kind of agreed that this is done. So, unwritten rule.

R: So it's nowhere in like a company manual or something like that, but you will... It's like something you talked about and you have a disagreement, or even just in your head if you're me.

M: Or a rule could be formal, and it's written in your contract. For example, you can't discuss your salary. Sometimes it's a rule. So you can't say things how much money you earn. You can't discuss this with colleagues. And it could be in the contract. In what did you say? You mentioned the document. The rule is in...

R: Oh, the company manual.

M: Manual. Yeah, the company manual. Rory talked about how absolutely no work should be done during designated time off. So you have some holiday or time off.

R: Or you have downtime.

M: Yeah, you have downtime. So this is your designated time and you don't work. We bend rules, or we break rules. So sometimes I break this rule, or I do bend it sometimes. So Rory does work when he's on holiday, for example. Bend the rules. I work for myself, or you can say I work for Google, I work for... And then you name the company. And then if Rory breaks the rule, he can't take disciplinary or administrative action against himself.

R: Yeah. So, well, you can if you work for yourself, but disciplinary action is when you're disciplined for something, administrative action is when some privileges are taken away, or something is changed about your contract in response to something that you did wrong.

M: Yeah, something has to be done. So they need to do something if you break the rules. And also, you can say it's more of a guideline or a principle. You see? So it's an informal rule. A guideline or principle. But also, you can talk about a formal rule, which is in your contract, for example. It's pretty essential. So it's pretty important because the task tells you to talk about an important role. So it's essential. To burn myself out. So we know if we work a lot, we can experience some burnout. Or you can use it as a phrasal verb to burn out or burn myself out.

R: But that just means to work so much that you just exhaust all of your energy, and you cannot work anymore.

M: Yeah. And then we can finish with, ultimately, I stick to it. So I stick to the rule, I follow the rule. And then the second conditional. If I didn't have a rule like this, but Rory does have this rule. So if I didn't have it, I would be pretty useless. So I would be pretty disorganized. I don't follow it religiously. A nice expression, a collocation, a phrase. Like you follow it all the time. And Rory is notorious for breaking the rules. Like he's, we can't say famous. But because it's something negative.

R: Well, it's perceived as being negative.

M: Like I'm notorious for breaking rules. I am notorious for stealing things, for example. What helped you to organize this answer?

R: Well, just organizing it according to what was asked, to be honest. I did pause a little like for a really long time to think about what to say because I didn't work for anybody. But then I decided to go with that because not working is also, or not working for a company and being self-employed, still requires some kind of rules. So I explained my situation, or I explained my situation, rather. And then I described the rule in a bit more detail. Like it's informal and unwritten. And then I went on to talk about what happens if you break the rule. Well, not much, to be honest. It's just, it's just talking about what couldn't happen. But what might happen if I did break the rule? And then I talked about why it was important, it's pretty essential. And then explaining why, and what the dire consequences could be if it's not followed. And explaining my feelings. Just, if I didn't have this in my life, I'd be useless. I feel I'd be useless. And I'd still find it useful. So nothing like I love the rule, or it's amazing. Just I think it's useful. That's how I feel about it. It's neutral.

M: Yay. We'll get back to you in speaking part three, where we talk about rules in general. Okay? See you there!

R: Bye!

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