Conversation:

Jonathan:  I love my job, but my boss and I have been at odds since the beginning of the month when I took a week off to be at the hospital with my sick mother.  He didn’t want to give me the time off, but I would never let anything come between my mother and me, not even my job.

Marissa:  I would have done the same thing.  My bottom line has always been that family comes first. How is your mother?

Jonathan:  She’s fine now.  The doctor gave her a clean bill of health, but she’s not off the hook yet.  She still needs to get her strength back.

Marissa:  I’m so glad to hear that.  Now you have to bury the hatchet with your boss.  You don’t want him to give you the boot.

Jonathan:  No I don’t. I thought I had patched things up with him, but I think he’s still angry with me.

Marissa:  You have a way with words.  I think you should bite the bullet and talk to him again, no ifs, ands or buts.

Jonathan:  You’re right.  I don’t want there to be any bad blood between us.  I’ll try to make it right.

Idioms:

• at odds                                             in disagreement about something
• come between                            cause trouble between two people
• bottom line                                   most important thing
• a clean bill of health                an assurance of good health
• off the hook                                 no longer having a problem
• bury the hatchet                       no longer be angry with someone
• give (someone) the boot       fire (someone) from a job
• patch things up                           improve a relationship by doing something nice
• a way with words                      an ability to use words to achieve a goal
• bite the bullet                              do a difficult and unpleasant task
• no ifs, ands or buts                    no excuses
• bad blood                                       very unfriendly relationship

Notes:

Give (someone) the boot is the opposite of get the boot, which means “get fired.”

© 2013 Ambien Malecot