A STRANGE EXPERIENCE AT THE OFFICE

Put the verbs in brackets into the past simple tense.

Many years ago, I ________ (have) a part-time job as a cleaner at an office

near my home. My baby daughter was just one year old at the time. It was a
good way for me to earn some extra cash to save up for a family holiday. I
_______ (work) from 6 a.m to 8 a.m, Monday till Thursday. I ________
(clean) the small kitchen, ______ (do) the toilets and ________ (polish) all
the furniture. I never _______ (touch) the computers. I always _______
(bring) my radio with me. I always ________ (make) a mug of coffee as soon
as I ________ (arrive). I really _________ (enjoy) the solitude. It was a nice
break from the hurly burly of looking after my little girl!

One morning, I _______ (arrive) at the office, _______ (switch) the burglar
alarm off as usual and then _______ (put) the kettle on. I _______ (wash) a few
dirty cups while the kettle was boiling and then I _______ (make) myself a nice
coffee. I _______ (leave) it to cool down and I ______ (go) to clean the ladies’
loos. There was nobody else in the building, but when I ________ (go) back for
my coffee, the mug was empty. On top of that, there were some crumbs of biscuit
at the bottom! There were no biscuits at that office; it was one of their rules. I
must confess, that experience really _________ (freak) me out. Who
_________ (drink) my coffee? Where ______ (do) the crumbs come from? I still can’t explain it to
this day.

By Sue Jenkins, ex-office cleaner.

Say if the statements are true or false: Answer the questions:

1) __
T A long time ago, Sue worked as a a) When did this happen?
cleaner.
2) __ Her place of work was a shop. b) Where did Sue work?
3) __ She had a baby son.
4) __ She worked for seven hours a week. c) How many hours a week did she work?
5) __The kitchen at the office was big.
6) __ She enjoyed the time on her own. d) What was her job?
7) __ She never switched the burglar alarm
off when she arrived. e) Whose radio did she listen to?
8) __ She cleaned the toilets while waiting
for the kettle to boil. f) Which task did she do first?
9) __ She waited for the coffee to cool
down a bit before returning to drink it. g) Why was Sue shocked?
10) __ When she got back, there was no
coffee left in the mug. h) Who drank Sue’s coffee?
11) __ There were always plenty of biscuits in
the office.  Do you know any strange stories like
12) __ The experience really disturbed her. this? Has anything like this happened to
you, or to a friend of yours?
KEYS

Many years ago, I worked as a cleaner in a small office near to my house. My baby daughter was just one
year old and it was a good way for me to earn some extra cash to save up for a good holiday. I worked
from 6a.m to 8a.m, Monday till Thursday. I cleaned the small kitchen, did the toilets and polished all the
furniture. I never touched the computers.

I always brought my radio with me and I always made a mug of coffee as soon as I arrived. I really
enjoyed the solitude. It was a nice break from the hurly burly of looking after my little one!

One morning, I arrived at the office, switched the alarm off as usual and then put the kettle on. I washed a
few dirty cups while the kettle was boiling and then I made myself a nice coffee. I left it to cool and I went
to clean the ladies’ loos.

There was nobody else in the building, but when I went back for my drink, the mug was empty, apart from
some crumbs of biscuit at the bottom. There were no biscuits at that office; it was one of their rules. I must
confess, that experience really freaked me out. Who drank my coffee? I can’t explain it to this day.

T/F

1T, 2F, 3F, 4F, 5F, 6T, 7F, 8T, 9T, 10T, 11F, 12T

Questions:

a. Many years ago

b. In an office
c. 8 hours
d. Office cleaner
e. Her radio. Her own.
f. She cleaned the small kitchen first
g. Her mug was empty. When she got back, her coffee was empty. Someone had drunk her
coffee.
h. Nobody knows. Who knows? Maybe a ghost. I don’t know. She didn’t know.