Difficult Customer
Elementary
Marco: Hello English learners and welcome to EnglishPod. My name is Marco.
Amira: I'm Amira.
Marco: And Amira and I are here today with a great, great lesson for you.
Amira: Yes, we are.
Marco: Today we're going to be talking about a restaurant. Amira, why don't you give us a little bit more details?
Amira: Well, we're talking about a situation in a restaurant and two people are involved, the waiter and the customer. And I don't want to say any more.
Marco: Okay, don't say any more. Let's just listen to this dialogue and we'll be back later to explain it.
Waiter: Good evening. My name is Fabio. I'll be your waiter for tonight. May I take your order?
晚上好。我是 Fabio。今晚由我为您服务。您现在可以点单了吗？Customer: No, I'm still working on it. This menu is not even in English. What's good here?
不用，我还在看呢。这菜单甚至都不是英文的。你们这儿有什么好吃的推荐？Waiter: For you, sir, I would recommend spaghetti and meatballs.
先生，我推荐您尝尝我们的意大利肉丸面。Customer: Does it come with coke and fries?
这配可乐和薯条吗？Waiter: It comes with either soup or salad and a complimentary glass of wine, sir.
先生，这个套餐是配汤或沙拉，另外赠送一杯红酒。Customer: I'll go with the spaghetti and meatballs, salad and the wine.
那我点意大利肉丸面、沙拉和红酒。Waiter: Excellent choice. Your order will be ready soon.
明智的选择。您的餐点很快就好。Customer: How soon is soon?
“很快”是多快？Waiter: Twenty minutes.
二十分钟。Customer: You know what? I'll just go grab a burger across the street.
要不这样吧，我还是去马路对面随便吃个汉堡吧。
Amira: What a waiter!
Marco: What a waiter! He is really angry at this customer and I can't blame him. I would be angry too.
Amira: Yeah. So, I think, Marco, you have chosen some interesting expressions for us here.What is the first one?
Marco: Well, the first one is I'm still working on it.
Amira: I'm still working on it.
Marco: I'm still working on it.
Amira: I'm still working on it.
Marco: Why don't we listen to some other examples on how you can use this word and then we'll come back and explain it.
Man: Did you finish reading the magazine?
你看完那本杂志了吗？Woman: I'm still working on it.
还没呢，我还在看。Customer: Did you fix my car?
你修好我的车了吗？Mechanic: I'm still working on it.
还没呢，我还在修。
Amira: Ah, so you could say "I'm still working on it." means ...
Marco: "I still need more time."
Amira: Fantastic.
Marco: Great. OK, it's clear.
Amira: I have another one for you guys. It's a phrase commonly used and you'll hear it all the time.
Amira: Coke and fries.
Marco: Coke and fries.
Amira: Coke and fries.
Marco: Coke and fries. It's a short way of saying Coca-Cola and French fries.
Amira: So that's basically America's fast food.
Marco: Yeah, burger, coke and fries.
Amira: OK. What's next on the menu?
Marco: On the menu we have a complimentary glass of wine.
Amira: Complimentary glass of wine.
Marco: Complimentary glass of wine.
Amira: Complimentary means?
Marco: That it's free.
Amira: Free.
Marco: Yes.
Amira: We love that, huh?
Marco: Yeah, we definitely like free things.
Amira: Well, I have another one for us here, another interesting phrase.
Amira: I'll go with.
Marco: I'll go with.
Amira: I'll go with.
Marco: I'll go with.
Amira: So basically it's another way of saying I'm choosing.
Marco: Yeah, I'll choose or I'll take.
Amira: I'll take. OK, very good.
Marco: Alright, the next word that I want to take a look at is grab.
Amira: Grab.
Marco: Grab.
Amira: Grab.
Marco: OK, now let's listen to some other examples of how we could use grab in different situations and then we'll come back and explain it.
On your way home, can you grab some milk?
你回家的路上能顺便捎点牛奶吗？Wait for me, please. I need to grab my coat.
等我一下，我去拿一下外套。Let's grab a cup of coffee.
我们去喝杯咖啡吧（顺便买杯咖啡）。
Amira: All right, well, I would understand that go grab means go get quickly.
Marco: To go get quickly, yeah.
Amira: Yeah. All right, everyone. So now it's time to listen one more time to the dialogue and listen carefully and try to understand why the waiter doesn't like the customer. Let's listen.
Waiter: Good evening. My name is Fabio. I'll be your waiter for tonight. May I take your order?
晚上好。我是 Fabio。今晚由我为您服务。您现在可以点单了吗？Customer: No, I'm still working on it. This menu is not even in English. What's good here?
不用，我还在看呢。这菜单甚至都不是英文的。你们这儿有什么好吃的推荐？Waiter: For you, sir, I would recommend spaghetti and meatballs.
先生，我推荐您尝尝我们的意大利肉丸面。Customer: Does it come with coke and fries?
这配可乐和薯条吗？Waiter: It comes with either soup or salad and a complimentary glass of wine, sir.
先生，这个套餐是配汤或沙拉，另外赠送一杯红酒。Customer: I'll go with the spaghetti and meatballs, salad and the wine.
那我点意大利肉丸面、沙拉和红酒。Waiter: Excellent choice. Your order will be ready soon.
明智的选择。您的餐点很快就好。Customer: How soon is soon?
“很快”是多快？Waiter: Twenty minutes.
二十分钟。Customer: You know what? I'll just go grab a burger across the street.
要不这样吧，我还是去马路对面随便吃个汉堡吧。
Amira: Marco, why did this waiter get angry at the customer?
Marco: Well, he basically wasted the waiter's time. I mean, this guy comes into the restaurant. He is not very polite and he's asking all these questions. In the end, he just gets up and says "I'll just go grab a burger across the street."
Amira: Yeah, and I also think that this guy was a lot more casual than the place he was in, right?
Marco: Yeah, yeah. I think this was a nice, fancy restaurant. So I think he was in the wrong place.
Amira: Yeah. So how many times, Marco, tell me, do you really have fast food a week?
Marco: Fast food, let's see, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. No, I'm just kidding.
Amira: Oh my God.
Marco: No, no. I think I get fast food maybe once a week, once or twice a week. All right, talking about fast food made me hungry. So I think I'm going to go grab something to eat myself.
Amira: Yeah, me too.
Marco: All right. I hope you guys enjoyed the lesson today and remember that all of this vocabulary is useful for your everyday needs.
Amira: Yes. Well, actually here in EnglishPod, we focus on phrases and words that are high frequency and that means that you can use them every day in your practical life.
Marco: Exactly. And be sure to go to our website at EnglishPod.com where you can find many other resources and you can leave your questions and comments at our community forum.
Amira: So thank you very much for listening. We'll be back tomorrow with another great lesson for you. So until then, bye.
Marco: Bye.
