Day 151: Overtime at the Recycling Bins
At the recycling bins of their building in Wolfsburg, Astrid Lemke (A) runs into her neighbour Karin Hoppe (B), who sits on the works council at her own firm.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a German word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native German, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Frau Hoppe, gut, dass ich Sie treffe. Sie sitzen doch im Betriebsrat, oder?
Mrs Hoppe, I'm glad I've run into you. You're on the works council, aren't you?
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B
Ja, seit vier Jahren. Sie sehen aus, als hätten Sie mehr auf dem Herzen als Altglas.
Yes, for four years. You look as if there's more on your mind than empty bottles.
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A
Meine Teamleiterin erwartet ständig Überstunden, aber bezahlt wird davon keine einzige Minute.
My team leader keeps expecting overtime, but not a single minute of it gets paid.
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B
Das kommt mir bekannt vor. Letztes Jahr kam eine Kollegin mit genau diesem Problem zu mir.
That sounds familiar. Last year a colleague came to me with exactly that problem.
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A
Und wie ging das aus? Ich will keinen Streit vom Zaun brechen, indem ich gleich zum Betriebsrat renne.
And how did that turn out? I don't want to start a row by running straight to the works council.
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B
Ganz ohne Streit. Sie überzeugte ihren Arbeitgeber, indem sie zwei Monate lang jede Minute dokumentierte.
Without any row at all. She won her employer over by documenting every minute for two months.
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A
Dann fange ich morgen damit an. Heute bin ich zum ersten Mal seit Wochen pünktlich gegangen, sonst wäre ich gar nicht hier.
Then I'll start tomorrow. Today I left on time for the first time in weeks, otherwise I wouldn't even be here.
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