Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 302, A Problem with a Restaurant Check.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 302.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com and take a look at the learning guide for this episode.
Each episode has its own 8-10 page learning guide that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, cultural notes and a complete transcript of this podcast episode, as well as other things to help you in learning English.
This episode is called A Problem with a Restaurant Check or a Restaurant Bill, the little piece of paper that tells you how much money you have to pay.
Let's get started.
The check, please.
Would you like any dessert or some tea or coffee?
No, just the check.
Thanks.
Here you are.
I'll ring that up for you when you're ready.
Thank you.
Oh, there seems to be a mistake on our bill.
We didn't order this appetizer.
Let me check this and I'll be right back.
Here you are.
I've adjusted the check.
I took off the appetizer.
Thanks, but there still seems to be a problem.
We had a two-for-one coupon, but we've been charged for both meals.
That isn't stated on the coupon.
I don't want to be a pain, but could I see the manager, please?
I'll see if she's available.
I talked to the manager and she said to make an exception in this case and to give you the discount.
Okay, thanks.
Our dialogue in the restaurant begins with Leslie trying to get the waiter's attention.
To get someone's attention means to do something so that the other person looks at you or pays attention to you.
This is to get someone's attention.
Leslie waves his hand.
He puts his arm in the air and moves his hand back and forth.
The waiter says yes.
Leslie says, the check, please, meaning please bring us the bill so we can pay and leave.
At some American restaurants.
It is common for them to bring you your check or bring you your bill, even though you do not ask for it.
This is not considered rude in the United States, but It's something that many restaurants do.
The waiter says would you like any dessert or some tea or coffee?
Dessert is usually something sweet that you eat at the end of your meal.
Leslie says no, just the check.
Thanks.
The waiter comes back with a check and says Here you are, which is what we would say when you give something to someone.
Here you are.
Here you are.
I'll ring that up for you when you're ready.
To ring something up means to enter the cost of what someone is buying usually into a machine that we call a cash register, and then you give them a little piece of paper from the machine, from the cash register, that tells them how much money they have to pay.
That whole process is to ring someone up to find out how much money they need to pay.
Leslie says, We didn't order this appetizer, Leslie says.
The appetizer is the food that you can eat at the beginning of a meal.
Usually it is a small amount of food before your main meal, your main dish.
The waiter says, let me check this and I'll be right back.
Notice that we can use the word waiter for either a man or a woman nowadays.
Traditionally the woman was called a waitress and the man a waiter, but as a more general term, waiter is now used.
The waiter comes back and she says once again, Here you are.
I've adjusted the check.
I took off the appetizer.
To adjust usually means to make a small change in something in order to correct it.
In this case, The change she made in the check, the bill, was to take off the appetizer.
When she says to take off the appetizer, the waiter means to remove it from the bill, to eliminate it from the bill.
That expression to take off means a two-word phrasal verb, we would call it has other meanings in English as well.
Take a look at our learning guide for an explanation of other meanings, as well as other meanings of the phrasal verb, the two-word verb to ring up.
Leslie says thanks, but there still seems to be a problem.
There is still a problem.
To say something the way Leslie does, there still seems to be a problem, is a little more polite.
But you are really saying there is a problem, or I think there is a problem.
Leslie says, we had a two-for-one coupon, but we've been charged for both meals.
A two-for-one coupon is is a small piece of paper that you give to the restaurant that gives you a discount, so you can get two meals for the price of one.
You buy one meal and you get a second one free.
To be charged for something means to be asked to pay for something, to be billed for something.
The waiter then says means to tell the waiter or the waitress what you want to eat, or to tell someone something that you want to buy.
I want to place an order for a new computer.
You say to the salesperson, I want to order one.
I want to buy one.
Usually when you order something, it takes some time before you actually get what you ordered.
Leslie says that's not stated on the coupon.
When we say something is stated, S-T-A-T-E-D, we mean it's written.
It's made clear.
It is communicated to you.
To state can sometimes be used as a synonym, as a similar word for the verb to say.
But here it means to be written on the coupon.
Leslie then does what many people do when they are having a problem at a restaurant with the waiter.
They ask to see the manager.
Leslie says...
To be a pain means to make something difficult for someone else, to make trouble for someone else.
You can say, for example, My neighbor's child is a pain.
He's always yelling and screaming.
Always.
This is an example of someone who causes difficulty, makes problems for other people.
Leslie says, I don't want to be a pain.
So he's trying to be a little polite with the waiter, saying I don't want to give you problems, but I do want to see the manager.
The waiter says, I'll see if she's available.
She comes back and says I talked to the manager and she said to make an exception in this case and to give you a discount.
To make an exception means to do something that one would normally not do.
To... not follow the regular rules in this situation.
Leslie, of course, thinks that he doesn't really need an exception, since the coupon didn't say that you had to present it or give it to the waiter when you place your order.
But he simply says at the end okay thanks, because the waiter is going to give him his discount, his two-for-one discount, from the coupon.
If you pick up a local newspaper, many times you will see coupons from local restaurants two-for-one or 25 off coupons, discount from your bill or check.
These are ways of getting you to come in to the restaurant.
It's a kind of advertising.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I wave my hand to get the waiter's attention.
Yes?
The check, please.
Would you like any dessert or some tea or coffee?
No, just the check.
Thanks.
Here you are.
I'll ring that up for you when you're ready.
Thank you.
Oh, there seems to be a mistake on our bill.
We didn't order this appetizer.
Let me check this and I'll be right back.
Here you are.
I've adjusted the check.
I took off the appetizer.
Thanks, but there still seems to be a problem.
We had a two-for-one coupon, but we've been charged for both meals.
I'm sorry, but you needed to present the coupon to me when you placed your order, not when you finished your meal.
That isn't stated on the coupon.
I don't want to be a pain, but could I see the manager, please?
I'll see if she's available.
I talked to the manager and she said to make an exception in this case and to give you the discount.
Okay, thanks.
The script for this podcast episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2007.
