What does "flexible" mean?
Let's check the dictionary:
- capable of being bent, usually without breaking
- susceptible of modification or adaptation; adaptable
- willing or disposed to yield; pliable
I find it interesting the way it is used these days, especially in a business environment. When we write the word on our CV we mean the meaning no. 2.b above. "Keen, flexible professional ..." Companies also love using it. "Flexible tasks and working hours". But they use it more in the meaning of no. 2.a above.
And then there's the one that HR may use if they are not sure if or when they can hire you: "We need to decide this flexibly." And there's also the way your boss tells you that you'll spend some of the immediate portion of your life commuting back and forth to a customer site not knowing exactly when you'll start and when you'll have a life again. "You need to be flexible." Which meaning is that? Is it any of the above? Or does it mean: "required to put up with us pissing around until we can be hedgehogged to make up our minds"? Whatever it is, it should be in the next edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner's.
Like I said, just a thought.