M: you shouldn’t be standing outside of your car here. It’s very dangerous with cars flying by.

W: Yeah, I know, but my car suddenly conked out, and now it won’t start. I don’t understand why. There is plenty of gas in the tank, and I just replaced the battery a week ago.

M: I used to be pretty handy fixing cars before, but the new models of cars coming out nowadays have too many computer gadgets in them. I think you had better call a tow truck and get a mechanic to look at it with his high-tech equipment.

W: I guess I have no choice but to do what. I should have listened to my brother. He warned me that I would run into problems if I bought a car with so many functions.

M: We seem to have already gone over budget on travel expenses this quarter. Do you know the reason?

W: Well, the main reason is because the airline we deal with has raised their fares. On top of that, we had to change the hotel we use because many of our staff complained about being robbed during their trips. So, we signed a contract with another chain, and they are a bit more expensive.

M: Well, we are going to have to do something to tighten up around here. Tell you what from now on I want you to make sure you allow only those staff members who must take trips to go on them. This way, we should be able to keep down the cost a bit.

W: Actually, we have been doing that, but it’s hard to judge which trips should be allowed or not because everyone seems to have legitimate reasons for taking the trips. I think we need to find other ways to cut costs. I’m meeting with the other managers today. Why don’t I bring up the issue at the meeting?

W: How did your team make out in the baseball tournament over the weekend? M: You’re not going to believe this, but we made it all the way to the finals by beating the marketing team and then played the sales team in the finals. You know, if it weren’t for John, our best player, leaving the game because of a sprained ankle, we could’ve won the whole thing. By the way, why didn’t you guys compete? We were expecting to play guys. W: Oh, our manager Susan is not a very big fan of baseball. She thinks that it’s a waste of time spending our weekends playing sports. M: You’ve got to be kidding. I can understand that she is not big fan of baseball, but she should be thinking about the employees’ morale. I don’t know about you guys, but our guys were all pumped up after the weekend game. I guess some of the bosses don’t feel that company spirit is all that important.

W: How did your team make out in the baseball tournament over the weekend? M: You’re not going to believe this, but we made it all the way to the finals by beating the marketing team and then played the sales team in the finals. You know, if it weren’t for John, our best player, leaving the game because of a sprained ankle, we could’ve won the whole thing. By the way, why didn’t you guys compete? We were expecting to play guys. W: Oh, our manager Susan is not a very big fan of baseball. She thinks that it’s a waste of time spending our weekends playing sports. M: You’ve got to be kidding. I can understand that she is not big fan of baseball, but she should be thinking about the employees’ morale. I don’t know about you guys, but our guys were all pumped up after the weekend game. I guess some of the bosses don’t feel that company spirit is all that important.

W: How did your team make out in the baseball tournament over the weekend? M: You’re not going to believe this, but we made it all the way to the finals by beating the marketing team and then played the sales team in the finals. You know, if it weren’t for John, our best player, leaving the game because of a sprained ankle, we could’ve won the whole thing. By the way, why didn’t you guys compete? We were expecting to play guys. W: Oh, our manager Susan is not a very big fan of baseball. She thinks that it’s a waste of time spending our weekends playing sports. M: You’ve got to be kidding. I can understand that she is not big fan of baseball, but she should be thinking about the employees’ morale. I don’t know about you guys, but our guys were all pumped up after the weekend game. I guess some of the bosses don’t feel that company spirit is all that important.