Using English at Work

Lesson 7 - Scheduling a Meeting

someone to fix your broken sink in your house - you'll set up a time. The vendor called to set up a meeting with me for the following, or next week.

Since I was away from my desk at the time that she called, she left a voicemail message. To be "away from your desk" means not to be in your office, maybe because you're having another meeting or you're taking a break. Because I was away from my desk, I wasn't able to answer my phone when it rang, so the vendor left me a voicemail message. When I get back to my desk, or return to my office, I retrieve the message and listen to it. "To retrieve" means to get something, especially when we're talking about information that was stored on a computer or, in this case, in a voicemail system. To retrieve a voicemail message, I have to call the voicemail system, enter my PIN (or personal identification number), and then I can listen to the recorded message. Sometimes when you call someone in an office and they don't answer their phone, you may hear a message like this: "I'm away from my desk right now. Please leave a message and I'll return your call when I get back." That's a very common outgoing message. "Outgoing," here, means that's what people will hear when they call you.

After listening to the vendor's message, then I return her call. "To return someone's call" means to call someone back on the telephone after he or she has called you and left a message. When people leave a message, they usually give their name, their telephone number, and the time they called. I call the vendor twice, but she isn't there, meaning that she isn't answering her phone. So I leave a voicemail message for her. Now we're playing something we call "phone tag." "To play phone tag" means that two people are exchanging voicemail messages but aren't able to actually speak to each other. For example, I start by calling you, but you don't answer your phone so I leave you a message - a voicemail message. Then, when you get the message, you call me, but I don't answer the phone, so you leave me a message. If we are both busy people - I'm not, but you probably are - we might continue to do this for a long time, and this is what we call "playing phone tag." "Tag" (tag) is a game that children play, when one person is touched by another person and they become what we call "it." You say, "You're it!" and then that child has to run and touch someone else, and that person becomes "it," and you don't want to be "it." I don't know why we say "it," but that's the word we use. Getting back to our story.

Fortunately, I don't have to play phone tag with the vendor for very long. At 4 p.m. she calls me again, and because this time I'm at my desk, or in my office, we can talk at last, or finally. Andrea, who works for the vendor, asks me if it is possible for us to meet early in the week next week. The phrase "early in the week" usually means Monday or Tuesday - maybe Wednesday. The phrase