 Five English phrases and ten English idioms for complaining about your job from espressoenglish.net No matter how much you like your job, there are always a few things to complain about. Look at these five English sentences to learn some idiomatic expressions for talking about negative points at work. Sentence number one, my coworkers don't pull their weight and I'm always picking up the slack. The idiom, pull your weight means to do your fair portion of the work or responsibility. So if your coworkers aren't pulling their weight, it means they are being lazy and they are not contributing as much as they should. As a result, you are always picking up the slack. This idiom means to do extra work because other people are not doing their part. Sentence number two, I can't stand the office politics. It seems like kissing up to the people who call the shots is the only way to move up the ranks. The expression office politics refers to people using their power or influence in a company to get advantages for themselves. It's usually a negative thing. The phrasal verb kissing up to someone means to say and do lots of nice things for a person because you want to get on their good side so that they will favor you or help you. Another way to say this is buttering someone up. The people who call the shots are the people who make all the important decisions and the idiom move up the ranks means to get a higher or better position in a hierarchy. In the context of a job, this would mean getting a promotion, a better salary or more authority in the company. Another idiom for this is move up the totem pole. Sentence number three, my boss loves to micromanage and I can't do my best work when she's constantly breathing down my neck. To micromanage is to try to control every detail of a project or of someone's work. The idiom breathing down my neck means the boss is closely watching or monitoring you. Imagine a person standing behind you so close that you can feel his or her breath on your neck. This is considered very annoying. Sentence number four, the job itself is rewarding, but the salary and benefits leave a lot to be desired. The word rewarding means something that gives you satisfaction and makes you feel good. You can describe a job, volunteer work or helping other people as rewarding. The idiom leave a lot to be desired is a polite and indirect way to say that it is unsatisfactory. It is not as good as you would like it to be. Sentence number five, I feel like I'm spread too thin, but every time I wrap up one project, I'm given two more, which of course need to be done yesterday. The idiom spread too thin means that you are trying to do too many things, projects or commitments at the same time, meaning you can't give enough attention to any of them. The phrasal verb wrap up means to finish or bring to an end. And saying something needs to be done yesterday is an informal way to say it needs to be done very urgently as soon as possible, as if it were possible to travel back in time and finish the task yesterday. If you're learning English for your career, check out my Business English Course. It will teach you idioms, phrases and vocabulary to use at your job. Visit espressoenglish.net and look for the Business English Course.