Conversation between Chandler and the Employer

The transcript of the conversation between Chandler and the Employer

C=Chandler E=Employer

C: Also, I was the point person on my company's transition from the KL5 to GR6 systems.

E: You must have had your hands full.

C: That I did. That I did.

E: So let's talk a little bit about your duties.

C : ...My doodies? All right.

E: Now you'll be heading a whole division, so you'll have a lot of duties.

C: I see.

E: But there'll be, perhaps, 30 people under you... so you can dump a certain amount on them.

C: Good to know.

E: We could go into detail...

C: No, don't, I beg of you.

E: All right then. We'll have a definite answer for you on Monday, but I think I can say with some confidence, you'll fit in well here.

C: Really?

E: Absolutely. You can relax. You did great.

C: Yeah, I gotta say thank you. I was really nervous. You know, I've been told I come on too strong, make too many jokes, and then it was really hard to sidestep that "duty" thing.

C: Duties? Doodies?

C: Poo!

E: Poo?

C: Oh my God, this doesn't count! Okay? The interview was over! That was the real Chandler Bing in here, this is just some crazy guy out in the hall.

C: Call security! There's a crazy guy out in the hall!

E: Poo?!

C: I'll look forward to your call.

Contextualization cues associated with each frame in the conversation

There are four frames in the conversation:

1. Interview Frame:

The whole interview between the employer and Chandler was formal and serious. They were sitting oppositely. Firstly, Chandler showed his professional past experiences by using Jargons, e.g. KL15 to GR6 systems, in a formal tone. On the other hand, Chandler showed his confident for his job, which responded ‘that I did, that I did’ to the employer’s saying ‘you must have had your hands full’.

After that, the employer talked about the duties. But Chandler heard ‘duties’ to ‘doodies’ wrongly. Chandler suppressed his laugh and kept in serious mode.

When the employer talked about Chandler’s duties, a short pause was made and Chandler answered ‘I see’ and ‘Good to know’. It showed that Chandler did listen and think what the employer said.

When the employer wanted to go into details of Chandler’s duties, Chandler shouted for unwilling to listen with loud and emotional voice. It showed that Chandler really didn’t want to know more details of his duties.

At the end of the interview, the employer firstly stood up, Chandler followed to do so.

2. Feedback Frame:

During the interview, Chandler showed respect and polite to the employer. Even Chandler heard the word ‘doodies’, he still kept respect and tried to involve into the interview. Hesitated responses were given by Chandler to demonstrate his concentration and consideration.

After the interview, the employer shook hands with Chandler and put his hand on Chandler’s back to say ‘you did great’ to show satisfaction for the interview. Chandler asked ‘really?’, then the employer answered ‘absolutely’. At the same time, Chandler released a deep breathe to show his relaxation after hearing the satisfaction from the employer..

3. Clarification Frame:

When the employer wanted to talk about Chandler’s duties, Chandler heard ‘duties’ as ‘doodies’ in the interview.

4. Joking Frame:

Chandler used different pronunciation from different countries to make jokes. For example, ‘doodies’ and ‘duties’ were mixed up. On the other hand, at the end of the conversation, Chandler pretended to call security and pointed himself as ‘a crazy guy in the hall’ to make a joke to the employer.

Frame Shift:

There is a change registers from formal interview to informal leisure talk between the employer and Chandler. In order to shift the frame naturally, discourse markers were used. For example, ‘let’s talk’, ‘all right’,etc..

The sentence ‘All right then’ said by the employer and the standing up action helped to change the frame from Interview Frame to Feedback Frame. When the employer was shaking hands with Chandler and walked towards to the door, it showed that it was the end of the Feedback Frame. Lastly, Chandler showed looking forward to the employer’s call, it implied to end the Joke Frame.