Voicemail with a changed time, an unclear room, and a 17:00 building closing
王さん works at a 人材会社 and is the 担当 for a client, 株式会社オオタ. At 11:00 she listens to a voicemail from オオタ's 田中さん about tomorrow's 打ち合わせ. The previous meeting was 15時 in the 3階会議室 with 8部 of materials. What she is sure she heard: 「明日の打ち合わせ、16時半からでお願いします。場所はいつもの3階会議室ではなく、本社の2階、ビー会議室です。資料は10部。あと、うちの部長も同席しますので、名刺を多めにお願いします。こちらの資料は当日こちらで印刷します。あ、ビルは17時に閉まりますので。」 What she is not sure about: whether the room was 「ビー」 or 「ディー」, and which company's 本社 was meant. She must leave the office at 12:00.
1. Separate the message into what definitely changed, what definitely did not, and what is unresolved. Base the material count only on 王さん's own side.
Read the worked answer
Definitely changed
- Start time: 15時 → 16時30分.
- Room: 3階会議室 → 2階, 「ビー」会議室 (at 本社).
- Her own materials: 8部 → 10部.
- New factor: オオタ's 部長 attends → more 名刺 (the number is not stated; "多め" is not a number).
Definitely not changed
- The date (tomorrow) and the counterpart (田中さん, オオタ).
- She still brings her own materials; the client's materials are not her responsibility - 「こちらで印刷します」 means they print theirs, so she must not print extra assuming they have none.
Unresolved
- 「ビー」 vs 「ディー」.
- Whose 本社 (オオタ's or 人材会社's) - both companies have one, and "いつもの3階会議室" was the old venue, so "本社" cannot be resolved by habit.
- How many 名刺 is "多め".
2. It is 11:20 and she must leave at 12:00. How should she resolve the two uncertainties, and why is email the wrong tool?
Read the worked answer
- Call back now. The meeting is tomorrow; an email may not be read until the recipient is already setting up the room, and a wrong room at 16:30 with a 17:00 closing leaves no time to recover.
- Confirm both points in one call, using 復唱: 「オオタ様の本社、2階のB会議室でよろしいでしょうか」. Saying "オオタ様の本社" forces the answer to include whose building; saying "B" forces the B/D decision. A yes/no question (「本社ですよね？」) invites a lazy 「はい」 and does not separate ビー from ディー.
- While on the call, also confirm the end time and how many people attend on their side - that determines the 名刺 count and whether the 30 minutes can work at all.
- If she cannot reach 田中さん by 12:00, she should say so in a short email and keep calling after 12:00; the unresolved items are not ones she can guess.
3. 16時30分 start, building closes at 17時00分, and オオタ's 部長 will attend. What does 王さん need to change in her plan, and what should she propose to 田中さん?
Read the worked answer
- Net meeting time is 30 minutes at most, minus greetings, 名刺交換 and packing up - realistically 20 minutes of content. A normal agenda of four or five items will not fit, and a meeting that is cut off by a building announcement is worse than a shorter planned one.
- Two proposals, in this order:
- Ask whether the 17時 closing is absolute - some buildings allow tenants to stay with advance notice - and whether an earlier start (e.g. 16時) is possible given their 部長's schedule.
- If neither is possible, send the discussion materials by email before the meeting and reserve the 30 minutes for the two items that genuinely need the 部長 in the room (decisions, not explanations).
- Preparation side: print 10部 of her own materials, bring spare 名刺 for an unknown number of attendees, and arrive early enough to find a 「本社2階」 room she has never used - arriving at 16時25分 would consume a third of the meeting.
- The listening skill being tested: a single number (「17時」) buried at the end of the message changes the value of everything mentioned before it.