Using English at Work：06 Arriving at Work(6)（在线收听）

Where I work, the employees (or the people who work at the company) are supposed to show their badges at all times.

The phrase "at all times" means always or all the time.

For example, parents want to know where their children are at all times.

At my office, people are supposed to wear their badges at all times so that the security guards know that we belong there.

A "security guard" is a person who decides who can and cannot enter a building for safety reasons.

Security guards are popular at many U.S. companies, to protect the employees.

They usually wear uniforms, they look a little like police officers but they are not; they are private guards.

Sometimes in American businesses security guards will have guns.

I said that one day last week I forgot my badge at home, meaning that I forgot to bring it to work.

That day, I had to get a visitor's pass.

A "visitor's pass" is a piece of paper that lets a visitor enter a building where he or she does not work, usually because he or she has a meeting there.

A pass is similar to a permit; it allows you to do something, to enter somewhere.

To get a visitor's pass, you usually walk into the building and tell the security guard that you have a meeting with someone.

The security guard calls that person to confirm that you do, in fact, have a meeting, and then gives you a visitor's pass, which might be a sticker that you put on your clothes or a badge to wear on your shirt.

When I had to get a visitor's pass, my coworker made fun of me all day.

"To make fun of someone" means to laugh at someone or to make other people laugh at someone in a way that isn't very nice.

If I use the wrong word in Spanish, French, or Italian and someone laughs at me and begins to copy my mistake, he is making fun of me.

It's not a very nice thing to do.