BE 575: Getting Grilled at Work? How to Talk About High-Pressure Questions

This is the Business English Podcast, episode 575, Getting Grilled at Work, How to Talk About High Pressure Questions. Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.

Let's figure out what you need to work on. Find your current English level with our five-minute quiz at allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. Hey, Michelle, how are you? Hey, Lindsay, I'm good.

How are you? Good. Michelle, when is the last time someone really grilled you on something? Do you remember? Luckily, I don't have people who grill me like crazy in my life.

I think that's a little, yeah, a little much to grill someone. But I mean, yeah, like maybe if I forgot to pick up the phone or something like that, somebody could be mad at me. Like, oh, where were you? Or like, what were you doing?

But I don't, I don't, have that situation too often in my life where I don't think I don't think people grill me. What about you? Yeah, not so much. I don't surround myself with people that tend to grill me.

But did you ever have a scenario at your work in radio? Where, you know, people asked you a bunch of questions and under pressure? Yeah. I mean, I think more in teaching, actually, like, you know, oh, you know, because sometimes what you would have is, you know, you get observed.

And it's very uncomfortable. And then, you know, afterwards, you might have someone question, okay, so what made you do this? Or what made you do that? Or, yeah, so that can feel kind of intense.

But sometimes even in the classroom, I mean, I used to teach also in New York. Oh, yeah. Sometimes it felt like students were grilling me on certain questions with very specific questions. And then there's a follow up question that comes after that.

And after that, after that, the same from the same student that can feel like you're being grilled, too. Yeah, that's true. That's true. So but what does it mean to grill someone on something?

So it basically means to put pressure on someone by asking many intense questions, one right after the other. So it's not just one intense question. It's in quick succession, multiple questions. Yes.

You're making the person explain and justify something that they've done or how they've acted. Or just an answer. Or just like in the case of students asking questions, just an answer to something. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, you've probably witnessed the situation at some point in your personal life or in your career. But so today we're going to talk about how and when to use this phrase.

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So hit follow. Okay. All right. Excellent. So how can we use this phrase, Lindsay? What's kind of the grammar, the structure of this? Yeah. So the structure is this.

To grill, that's a verb, a person on a topic, right? So for example, she grilled me. This is in the past tense. She grilled me on the numbers or the boss is grilling him on why sales have plummeted.

Yes. Yeah, it can feel like you're being accused of something if someone's grilling you on something. I can. What are you really saying here? You don't seem to like if somebody is grilling you, sometimes it can feel kind of benign.

Oh, they're just asking me a lot of questions. But sometimes I can feel like there's a reason they're asking you or they maybe they don't trust you. So true.

Yeah. But yeah, we can also use about, right? So to grill someone about a topic, right? So the client grilled us about the missed deadline. Ooh. Yes. Yikes.

Or I just know he's going to grill the team about our presentation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think from the perspective of the person asking the questions, this also doesn't feel good.

You don't want to feel like you're doing this. Right. And maybe we do another episode about how to say you don't want to grill someone on something. Like I don't have to grill you.

Yeah. Yes. That would be a great episode idea. Right. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then in the passive voice, sometimes we use this in the passive voice because we've talked about kind of being the victim of a grilling session, right?

So in the passive voice, we have the person was grilled or to be grilled on the topic. So for example, I got grilled about the missing revenue or she was grilled on why she arrived late. Right.

right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, so yeah, that's a, sorry. So we were talking about dings and everything. Um, so, um, but yeah, this phrase sounds, I mean, like, first of all, it's not about cooking, right?

You're not talking about you're being actually grilled. Um, right. Right. In a way it feels like it, right. You're it's negative. It's stressful. Um, What do you think, Lindsay?

Yeah. I mean, it can be, yeah, very intense, an intense moment. Often this could happen at work or in just a high pressure situation, or maybe you made a mistake, you messed up something at home and someone's accusing you slash grilling you on what happened, right?

So it sort of implies intensity and pressure. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So when would we use to grill someone on something in business, Michelle? What do we think?

Well, yeah, you could use it after a tough meeting. So you're sharing what happened. So for example, how did the meeting go? I was grilled on the quarterly forecast.

Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And sometimes I wonder if it's more the numbers people that get grilled the most on performance, you know, like the creative teams, maybe they get a pass sometimes.

Well, who really gets grilled if the numbers don't look good might be accounting or, you know, budget team, that kind of thing. Right? Yeah, that makes sense. Maybe we have some accountants listening who...

Or can relate. Resonate with that. Or people working in another financial aspect of the field. Or after a job interview. I mean, you might say, okay, how was the final interview?

Intense. They grilled me in my past experience a ton. Yeah. Yeah. That's another context for that. I mean, this reminds me also of just like if somebody's testifying before Congress or gosh, that's a good example.

Yes. You will. If you watch these things, these people like whoever is testifying, they will get grilled. Yep. Yep. The hearings. Yep. And there was just one going on this week for someone that wants to be in some, I think attorney general, I think it was.

And yeah, Yeah, I mean, especially depending on who appointed the person, the other party will really grill. And often it's not even about asking questions from the other party. It's about showboating a little bit or making a statement.

It's all political, really. But that's a great, that's probably the best example yet of grilling. Yeah, to grill someone. And then there's after a bad performance review.

So, for example, you look stressed. Are you okay? Yeah. Not really. The manager grilled me on my sales results. Yeah. Or after a mistake or a missed target.

What happened in the call? The client grilled us about the missed deadline. Michelle, when would we not use this phrase? What do you think? um like you're not gonna say oh i'm gonna grill you now right you're not gonna tell you're not gonna tell someone they're gonna get grilled you might say that someone else might grill them oh don't be surprised as she grills you on this yes you know topic um but yeah you're not gonna say oh now we're gonna grill you and

Right. Because it's a pretty negative aggressive. Aggressive is a good word for it. It's an aggressive thing. So it's not something someone would acknowledge they're doing or someone might not even be aware that they're doing it.

Some people have a very aggressive stance or just personality sometimes. Right. Right. So but let's talk about some similar words or phrases. What's the first one, Lindsay?

Interrogate. So here's asking a series of questions. This is used in law enforcement or when you're speaking dramatically. Right. So, for example, the FBI agent interrogated the suspect.

Right. Yep. Yep. Or I felt like I was being interrogated over a simple mistake. So here we're taking the word interrogate or apply. It's really a legal word, I think.

We're applying it to another context that is not legal to give it a bit of metaphorical meaning. Right. Yeah. Right. You feel like, you know, maybe you're under the lights.

Right. Someone is asking you a lot of questions. And so you might say, I feel like I'm being interrogated. And the next one is common. I feel like you'll hear this in movies.

Yeah. To give someone the third degree. Maybe teenagers might say this. My parents gave me the third degree. Right. Yeah. Yep, exactly. So this is to subject someone to intense, nonstop questioning.

So this is, I think it's fairly common, actually. So here we go. The boss gave me the third degree when I showed up late, or they gave the man the third degree until they got a confession. Yeah.

So just that intense interrogation, right? Yes. Yep. Exactly. So should we do a role play? Yeah. So here we are colleagues and I just had a meeting with the CFO and you are asking me how it went.

Okay. Okay. All right. Here we go. How did the meeting go this morning? Oh, not great. I got grilled on the cost overruns. By the CFO? Yeah. She kept asking why the estimates changed and who approved them.

Were you able to explain the situation? Well, eventually, but I felt like I was being interrogated. There were so many follow-ups. oh that's rough at least you were prepared true but honestly it wasn't a fun experience i basically got the third degree for an hour sounds bad that does not that sounds terrible yeah that sounds terrible very high pressure right yeah yep um here i articulated you asked how it went and i said i got grilled on the cost of overruns on the cost overruns sorry

Yep. And then you said, I said, it felt like I was being, no, you said it felt like I was being interrogated. There were so many follow-ups. And then I said, I basically got the third degree for an hour.

So just different ways to say that you've been grilled on something. And again, I think it's an important point that you would never say if you're the griller, you're not going to say, I'm going to grill you now. Please sit down.

Yeah. Right, exactly. That's a good point. Yeah. So yeah, these are all really good. Guys, if you haven't yet listened to this episode, check out Business English episode 555 that was Take Part or Partake, How to Avoid Overly Formal Vocabulary.

Awesome. And, you know, I think the takeaway today is this is a really, um, this is a, I don't want to say it's slang, but it's kind of probably not going to be found in a dictionary that our list or a textbook that our listeners have been through for business English. Right. But it does happen, especially in a work context all the time.

So we need this kind of special vocabulary to articulate not just the scenario, but how it's making us feel. If we feel we've been grilled, you know, that's, that's the right word for it. Cause it feels intense and aggressive. Yep.

Yeah, exactly. All right, Lindsay. Well, no grilling today. I'll talk to you next time. All right. Talk to you next time. Bye, Michelle. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.

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