Expressions to Complain About Your Job
Work can be annoying sometimes, so here are some expressions you can use next time you need to complain about your job.
If one of your colleagues isn't working very hard you can say they are "slacking off." You can also describe a lazy person as a "slacker."
So you might say, "John is really starting to annoy me — he's such a slacker! Every time I look at him he's slacking off."
Sometimes when someone is being a slacker you have to do their job for them. This can be called "picking up the slack," or doing work that someone else has not done. The expression comes from sailing.
So if you were complaining to a co-worker about John, they might say, "If it annoys you, you should stop picking up John's slack, then people will see how much he slacks off."
If you have a lot of work to do, you could say, "I have a lot on my plate." The expression compares things to do to a plate with so much food on it that eating all of it will be difficult.
So you could reply to your co-worker by saying, "You're right, I already have a lot on my plate right now. If I stop picking up John's slack maybe I can get more of my own work done and he'll have to stop slacking off."
