BUSINESS ENGLISH WORD OF THE DAY: BILLS

BUSINESS ENGLISH WORD OF THE DAY: BILLS

Are you worried about the pile up of bills now that you have been out of work for several weeks?

French translation, factures

Hello Darlings! Happy Friday!

It is 6:00 p.m. and I am finally getting around to my word of the day which is BILLS. I guess I lost the entire day just thinking about my own bills and wondering how the dickens I am going to pay for it all with the ongoing saga known as coronavirus.

What about you? As a business professional with a steady, fulltime job, I don't imagine you ever really worry about your bills.
That is why you work, in fact, because come end of the month, you expect to have money to pay your bills. Am I right?  But I guess this assumes that you live within your means and that you are not too extravagant and that you don't dispense money on frivolous things. Because it almost seems to me that for some people, no matter how much money they bring home at the end of the month, they always have a shortfall because the more they make, the more they spend.

Then of course, there are other people who are very frugal and who not only know how to live within their means, but they can live well below their means. So their monthly bills never pile up to the point that they are paralyzed with fear about how they are going to pay it all.

The coronavirus is the great equalizer in some ways though because now, even countries are going to have to worry about paying their bills. Do you agree? If this situation prolongs into May or god forbid into the summer, it could really spell economic disaster for many countries and their bills are just going to mount to an almost insurmountable apex. Like the French alps. They will have bills up to the alps and it is going to be ugly for taxpayers who are going to have to pay for this at some point.

For the moment, of course, health first. And health bills are also a big thing for a lot of people - especially in countries like the USA where there is no universal healthcare. So there is that. Plus you have all the other bills that people are going to have to pay that include rent, food, utilities (water, electricity, heat, central AC) and god knows what else. The only bills they are not going to have to worry about are bills that involve socializing thanks to the social distancing mandates that most countries have issued for their populations.

These are definitely unusual time. But under normal times, what are some of the bills that you encounter specifically in the context of work? How much of your expenditures does your employer cover? For example, they may pay your transportation costs by giving you a company car. But they could give you a free metro card, they could pay for uniforms they could pay for your phone, etc. Can we talk about your professional bills when we meet? 

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Note: During this time, I am offering strictly telephone conversation courses to respect the order of President Emmanuel Macron who has issued a directive as you know that the French population must remain under curfew for the next 15 days. If you would like to start or continue with English conversation lessons therefore, it will be strictly by telephone. I look forward to speaking with you, que même. I have noticed that I now have visitors from countries other than France including Germany, United Arab Emirites, Belgium, Spain and Oman. You are also welcomed to take English conversation with me if you like :) 


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