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Elementary ‐ Difficult Customer (B0001)
A: Good evening. My name is Fabio, I’ll be your waiter for tonight. May I take your order?
B: No, I’m still working on it. This menu is not even in English. What’s good here?
A: For you sir, I would recommend spaghetti and meatballs.
B: Does it come with coke and fries?
A:It comes with either soup or salad and a complimentary glass of wine, Sir.
B: I’ll go with the spaghetti and meatballs, salad and the wine.
A: Excellent choice, your order will be ready soon.
B: How soon is soon?
A: Twenty minutes?
B: You know what? I’ll just go grab a burger across the street.

A: 晚上好。我的名字叫Fabio，今晚我为您服务。我能为您点餐了吗？

B: 不，我还在看。这菜单都不是英语。这什么比较好吃？

A: 先生，我会推荐意大利面和肉丸。

B: 它带有可乐和薯条吗？

A: 它附带汤或沙拉以及免费的, 先生，一杯酒。

B: 我去吃意大利面，肉丸，沙拉和葡萄酒。

A: 绝佳的选择，您的订单将很快准备就绪。

B：很快是多快？

A：二十分钟？

B：你知道吗？我还是去对面买(吃)个汉堡。

M: Hello English learners and welcome to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

A: I’m Amira.

M: And Amira and I are here today with a great, great lesson for you.

A: Yes, we are.

M: Today we’re gonna be talking about a restaurant. Amira, why don’t you give us a little bit more details?

A: Well, we’re talking about a situation in a restaurant and two people are involved – the waiter and the customer. And I don’t wanna say anymore.

M: Okay, don’t say anymore, let’s just listen to this dialogue and we’ll be back later to

explain it.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

A: Oh-oh, what a waiter?

M: What a waiter? He is really angry at this customer and I can’t blame him, I would be angry too.

A: Yeah, so, I’ve seen Marco you have chosen some interesting expressions for us here.

What is the first one?

M: Well, the first one is I’m still working on it.

A: I’m still working on it.

M: I’m still working on it.

A: I’m still working on it.

M: 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?

Example one.

A: Did you finish reading the magazine?

B: I’m still working it.

Example two.

C: Did you fix my car?

D: I’m still working on it.

M: Hm.

A: Uh, so, you could say “I’m still working on it” means…

M: I still need more time.

A: Fantastic.

M: Great. Okay, it’s clear.

A: I have another one for you guys, it’s a phrase commonly used and you’ll hear it all the time – coke and fries.

M: Coke and fries.

A: Coke and fries.

M: Coke and fries. It’s a short way of saying “Coca-Cola and French fries”.

A: So, that’s basically America’s fast food.

M: Yeah. Burger, coke and fries.

A: Okay.

M: Hehe.

A: What’s next on the menu?

M: On the menu we have a complementary glass of wine.

A: Complimentary glass of wine.

M: Complimentary glass of wine.

A: Complimentary means…

M: That it’s free.

A: Free.

M: Yes.

A: We love that, ha?

M: Yeah, we definitely like free things.

A: Well, um, I have another one for us here, another interesting phrase – I’ll go with.

M: I’ll go with.

A: I’ll go with.

M: I’ll go with.

A: So, basically, it’s another way of saying “I’m choosing”.

M: Yeah, I’ll choose or I’ll take.

A: I’ll take.

M: Uhu.

A: Okay, very good.

M: Alright, the next word that I wanna take a look at is grab.

A: Grab

M: Grab.

A: Grab.

M: Okay, 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.

Example one.

A: On your way home can you grab some milk?

Example two.

B: Wait for me please, I need to grab my coat.

Example three.

C: Let’s grab a cup of coffee.

A: Alright, well, I would understand that go grab means go get quickly.

M: To go get quickly, yeah.

A: Yeah. Alright 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.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME

A: Marco, why did this waiter get angry at the customer?

M: 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

“Uh, I’ll just go grab a burger across the street”. 

A: Yeah, and I also think that this guy was a lot more casual than the place he was in,

right?

M: Yeah, yeah, I think it was a nice, uh, fancy restaurant, so, I think he was in the wrong place.

A: Yeah, so, how many times, Marco, tell me do you really have fast food a week? 

M: Fast food, let’s see, uh, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… no, I’m just kidding.

A: Oh my God.

M: No, no, um, I think I get fast food maybe once a week… once or twice a week. Alright, talking about fast food made me hungry, so, I think I’m gonna go grab something to eat myself.

A: Yeah, me too.

M: Alright, I hope you guys enjoyed the lesson today and remember that all of this vocabulary is useful for your everyday needs.

A: Yes, well, actually here in EnglishPod we focus on phrases and words that are high frequency and that means that you can use them everyday in your practical life. 

M: 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 comment at our community forum.

A: So, thank you very much for listening, we’ll be back tomorrow with another great lesson for you, so, until then… Bye!

M: Bye!