GOSSIP AT THE OFFICE.- Session 1.- Who's that chick?

It starts out innocently with someone at the canteen saying, "Isn't it a shame about Mary?" Clueless, you reply, "What about Mary?" "Haven't you heard about her husband?" When you answer in the negative, your colleague seizes the moment to fill you with all the details about Mary's husband having an affair with none other than your boss's wife, and poor Mary is now in rehab because she started drinking to drown her misery. Of course, since your boss's wife is also involved, you are curious to find out if he knows about his wife's infidelity. And before you've finished drinking your coffee, you've entered the vicious cycle of gossip that too often contaminates a workplace.

The consequences of participating in office gossip always affect at least two or more people. First, consider the person who is the gossip spreader. Why is this person presenting the information? Can any good come from it? Will the information benefit you or the office in which you work? What's in it for the gossip?

If the answers to these questions are fuzzy, you can probably assume the news bearer is revealing something others don't yet know. Such "news," whether accurate or not, provides a momentary feeling of superiority and control that the gossip probably lacks otherwise. If this person's work performance isn't good enough for recognition, then the next best option is to be the person with the latest inside dirt.

Unfortunately, a gossip isn't satisfied just possessing the information, since knowledge that isn't shared is wasted. This is where others get implicated without necessarily being willing participants. Even the "innocent" are drawn in to the gossip's web by merely listening. For a few minutes, this person has everyone's undivided attention, and this is "reward" enough.

While gossips themselves might not immediately suffer for their loose tongues, eventually they will be found out. The consequences may include poor performance reviews, no pay raises, reprimands from supervisors, or possibly dismissal because of their involvement in destroying office morale and team work.

Gossips are usually willing to share their wealth of information, so others have little trouble knowing who they are. Smart co-workers will learn to avoid them any way they can, even though this is not always easy or possible. Even if you yourself don't initiate gossip, just listening to it carries consequences. If several people are present when a gossip is revealed, you may be credited as the source at some later point just because you were present. People's memories aren't always accurate.

Of course, the one who suffers most is the person everyone is talking about. Even if the rumour proves to be just that, the damage has been done. Those who have heard the gossip will be unable to completely erase it from their minds. The consequences for this person might be devastating.

Since no one benefits from gossip, why do we get involve in it? Just remember, if you don't gossip, you don't have to worry about someone betraying your confidence and telling other people what you said. And remember: distance yourself from gossips since you are known by the company you keep.

As we read in the previous section, gossip usually starts by a somehow "innocent comment" and from there it spreads by word of mouth triggering the weirdest situations. Here you have some of the most common ways in which gossip starts, watch out and mind the way you start conversations or you may achieve a bad reputation.

In addition, once we have raised the topic, Gossip conversations are usually followed by telling the other person not to tell anyone plus what he or she shouldn't tell followed by a whisper. Here are some of the most common ways to say so:

As we observed above, Reported Speech is frequently used in daily life conversations to tell someone about what a third person said before. However, when Reporting, the sentence usually undergoes some changes:

• The Verb goes a step backwards in time. For example:

  Mary: "I'm going next week" (present continuous) to Mary said that she was going the following week (past continuous).

• The subject also changes: "I" is changed by "she".
• Time expressions: "next week" changes to "the following week" or "the week after."

When dealing with Reported Speech there are three types of sentences: Statements, Questions and Commands: however, in this section, we will concentrate on the first two ones.

When reporting a statement in English there is usually a backshift of tenses.

• Example: Susan: "I worked in an office". Susan said that she worked in an office. Here you have a table with the most common changes.

  Backshift of tenses

  From (Direct Speech)	To (Reported Speech)
  Simple Present.	Simple Past.
  Simple Past.	Past Perfect.
  Present Perfect.
  Past Perfect.
  Will.	Would.
  Progressive Forms
  Am / are / is.	Was / were.
  Was / were.	Had been.
  Has been.
  Had been.

If the sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it as well:

• Peter: "I worked in the project yesterday".
• Peter said that he had worked in the project the day before.

It's time for Lourdes and Susana to start looking for their plane tickets back home. As usual, they haven't got much money left and therefore they read an article to learn how to get cheaper ones.

The prices of airline tickets vary and change in as little as an hour or a day. The cheap ticket or the discount seat you are looking for, might be gone by the time you call. Of course, there is a chance that tickets for the flight you want are cheaper when you call later. But experience had taught us that the first possibility is more likely. However, there are ways, or tricks to increase your chances of finding a good deal, but remember: Keep the prices of your airline tickets to yourself because your plane neighbour is likely to murder you if he finds out that you only paid half of the amount he did!

First of all, whether you intend to use the internet or travel agency, start your search early. By early, I don't mean a week or an hour before. A month before your desired date is ideal to find better prices of airline tickets. But watch out!Don't buy just yet, first search. It'll give you an idea of how much and when the rates are likely to fluctuate or inflate at later dates.

To start with, do not give definite dates when you call the airline. Simply, ask for the lowest rates for your destination and say that your travel date and time are flexible. This is especially good if airfare price is more important than your dates like if you're only considering a vacation or personal trip. It is easier to change travel dates than to pay for expensive airline tickets. To clue you in, winter is the cheapest season to fly except for the days before the Christmas holidays. If you can afford it, arrange for vacation trips during the winter. Another trick to save a lot on tickets is to adjust your flight schedules. Ask the airline for the late flights rather than peak hours. The two a.m. flights are generally half-priced compared to morning and mid-morning flights.

Don't get too excited about discounts; most come with restrictions so research and ask before you purchase your airline tickets. Discounts only work for you if you purchase tickets within the restriction rules. These rules are easy like advance purchase or Saturday night reservation. Advance purchase requires you to buy your tickets a week or three in advance. This guarantees that you have discount seats. Stays or trips that include a Saturday night fall under excursion trips which are cheaper than business trips. Learn about discounts and restrictions so you can use them to your advantage. Also, get round trip tickets instead of using another airline for your return - they are priced the same.

Lastly, buy airline tickets and use them at the appointed time. Cancellation of flights and rescheduling often have stiff penalties. The 100 pounds you saved from your discounted ticket may not be enough to cover penalties.

Enjoy your trip, after all, the cheap airline tickets you have are not really good deals if you don't enjoy them.

As we read in the previous section, buying plane tickets online is usually cheaper than buying them in a travel agency. Here you have some useful vocabulary to take into account.