Expressing Emotions to work colleagues

Luxury Hospitality 

Working in the luxury travel industry is a passion. And it’s also a 24/7 passion, with long hours, calls in the middle of the night and the hotel as a machine that never sleeps.  Luxury hospitality can be extremely rewarding and extremely tiring at the same time!

We all get tired. How do you tell your colleagues “I’m very tired!” in English?

There are many ways, some colloquial and slang and some interesting idioms too.

We can use a strong adjective, ‘exhausted’.

“I’m exhausted!”  We can also modify this with the adverb absolutely.

“I’m absolutely exhausted.”

Other expressions are: “I’m worn out.”  “I’m shattered.” “I’m spent.”

There is a natural and informal expression which is used in British English to say you are very tired:  “I’m knackered.”  This is slang and should only be used in informal situations and with friends.  You probably wouldn’t say this to your boss!

Idiom

Finally, an idiom for you.  “I’m on my last legs.”  This also means Í am very tired.

We can also use this idiom to describe a vehicle or machine which is about to break.

“My car is 20 years old.  It is on its last legs!”

To summarise. Very tired =

I’m (absolutely) exhausted.

I’m worn out.

I’m spent.

I’m shattered.

I’m on my last legs.

Having a busy day?

We’ve all been there…we open our inbox and are faced with a long list of unread emails. Our phone doesn’t stop ringing. And all this on top of the scheduled appointments for the day. And our boss is on his way with a list of new jobs!

How do you say, “I’m very busy!” in English?  Here are two expressions to say that you’ve got a lot of work to do!

“I’m snowed under.”

“I’m up to my eyes.”

Having a bad day?

When a work colleague or friend asks: “How are you today?”
How do you answer?  Most of us probably answer automatically with:  “Fine thanks.”

But what about if we are having a bad day?  Everyone has them! Nothing seems to go right, we didn’t get enough sleep the night before and we are tired or we are not feeling 100%.

Here are three expressions in English that you can say if you are having a bad day.

“I’m fed up!”  This means I’m a little cross (not angry).

”I’ve been better!”  This means I have felt better than I do now.

“I’m a bit under the weather.”  This means I am feeling a little bit ill, but nothing serious.

Finally, remember. Having a meaningful conversation in English might just change a bad day into a good one!