Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 418, Getting Bad Service.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 418.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there and download a learning guide for this episode that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, cultural notes and a complete transcript of this episode.
This episode is called Getting Bad Service.
It's a dialogue between two people talking about the bad customer service they received at a coffee house or coffee shop that they went to.
Let's get started.
Why?
What happened?
It's the third time in a week that I've had lousy service.
I don't expect five-star treatment anymore.
But I do expect service industry employees to be at least civil.
I walked in and went up to the counter to place my order.
The woman working there was talking to her friend, another customer.
I stood there, clearly needing to be waited on, and she couldn't have cared less.
You mean she didn't even acknowledge you?
Are you kidding?
She didn't stop talking for one second.
When she finally took a breath, I told her my order.
She gave me a dirty look and finally turned around to get my coffee.
She practically threw it at me.
Well, maybe she was having a bad day.
At least you got your coffee.
I got a cup of coffee, but not the kind I ordered.
When I realized it, I went back to the counter and she was still talking to her friend.
I interrupted her and told her that I got the wrong order.
She had the chutzpah to try to tell me that I had made a mistake in telling her my order.
Not only did she not take responsibility for her mistake, she tried to tell me that it was my fault.
That's really infuriating.
What are you going to do?
One good thing about her talking with her friend for so long is that I got her name.
Aren't you overreacting?
A dialogue begins with Buck saying to his friend Star.
Star says Buck says Star says Lousy L-O-U-S-Y means bad, not very good, poor quality.
So lousy service is bad service.
He says I didn't expect five-star treatment.
But I do expect service industry employees to at least be civil.
Five-star treatment would be very good customer service service that makes you feel like an important person.
So when you go to a restaurant and the waiter is nice to you and gives you good service, helps you, that would be possibly five-star treatment.
Service industry refers to businesses who provide services to other companies or to other people.
Hotels and restaurants are both part of the service industry.
So Buck is saying here that he expects people, employees who work in these service industries...
To be at least civil or to at least be civil.
Civil means polite, formal, not necessarily friendly.
Someone can be polite to you but not be friendly to you.
That's called being civil.
The word civil has several different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Star says Buck says A counter in a store or a business is usually a long flat counter surface like a table, where the customer stands on one side and the employee stands on the other side.
Often, if you are going to buy something, you would go up to the counter or the sales counter and the employee would take your money or your credit card.
So Buck goes up to the counter of this coffee shop and And the woman working there was talking to her friend, another customer.
He says, The expression to be waited on means that you are helped or served by an employee.
To have an employee ask, for example, what you want to buy or how they can help you.
Buck says I stood there, meaning I stood waiting there, clearly needing to be waited on, and she couldn't have cared less.
The expression I couldn't have cared less means to show that something is extremely unimportant or not important to you.
Something is less important than everything else.
For example, I thought my professor would be mad when I arrived at the classroom late, but he couldn't have cared less, meaning he didn't care at all.
It wasn't important to him.
You will also hear native speakers say I could have cared less.
But but they mean I couldn't have cared less.
There's some confusion now and some people say I could have cared less.
But the original expression is I couldn't have cared less.
That's what makes sense in this case.
Starr says, you mean she didn't even acknowledge you?
To acknowledge someone means means to recognize that someone is there, usually by looking into their eyes and saying hello, even if you don't have time to speak with them.
So the employee might look at you and nod her head and smile, so that you know that she knows that you are waiting.
But Apparently this employee didn't even acknowledge Buck.
Buck says, are you kidding?
She didn't stop talking to her friend for one second.
She kept talking to her.
When she finally took a breath, I told her my order.
To take a breath.
B-R-E-A-T-H means to stop speaking for a short period of time so that you can breathe in.
I need to do this when I am recording the podcast.
I need to stop sometimes and take a breath.
Here it means a short amount of time.
So when she stopped talking for a short amount of time...
Buck told her his order, what he wanted to buy.
The employee gave him a dirty look.
A dirty look is when you change your face so that the other person knows you are not happy or you are angry.
If you walk into a library and you are talking loudly or laughing, the people working there, the librarians, may give you a dirty look.
I do this all the time when I'm in a restaurant and someone starts yelling on their cell phone their mobile phone in the table next to me.
I turn and I give them a dirty look, because of course it's not polite to have your telephone conversation in someone else's ear.
You should step outside the restaurant and continue your phone call.
Well, that's the way it should work, but this is Los Angeles and it doesn't work that way very often.
Buck says that the employee gave him a dirty look and finally turned around to get my coffee.
She practically threw it at me.
Practically here means almost, virtually, nearly.
Practically can mean in a practical way, but here, when someone says she practically kicked me or he practically killed me, you mean they almost nearly, but not quite.
So when the employee practically threw the coffee at Buck, she didn't actually throw it, but it was something like that.
Star says, well, maybe she was having a bad day.
At least you got your coffee.
Buck says, I got a cup of coffee, but not the kind I ordered.
When I realized this mistake, I went back to the counter and she was still talking to her friend.
I interrupted her, that is, I began speaking even though she was still speaking to someone else, so that she would stop and listen to me.
I interrupted her and told her that I got the wrong order.
She had the chutzpah to try to tell me that I had made a mistake in telling her my order.
Chutzpah, spelled C-H-U-T-Z-P-A-H, is a Yiddish word meaning courage or confidence to do something that other people probably wouldn't do, usually because they may be scared to do it.
Another word we could use here is nerve.
She had the nerve.
Chutzpah can be a good thing.
Some people, in some circumstances, may make it a bad thing doing something that someone else doesn't want or would not do.
So she had the chutzpah to say that I made a mistake in telling her my order.
Not only did she not take responsibility for her mistake...
She tried to tell me it was my fault.
To take responsibility for something means to agree that something is your fault, to accept the consequences of your actions.
Yes, I made a mistake.
Star says to Buck, that's really infuriating.
Something that is infuriating makes you very angry or mad.
Star says, what are you going to do?
Buck says one good thing about her talking with her friend for so long is that I got her name.
Meaning I remembered or I figured out I was able to get this piece of information, namely her name.
Buck says, I'll be calling the manager to complain.
To say that you are unhappy about something is to complain.
Star says, aren't you overreacting?
To overreact means to respond to something too strongly.
To make something more important than it really is.
So if your waiter forgets to bring french fries with your hamburger and you start yelling at the waiter and getting on your feet and pounding your fist on the table, that would be overreacting, getting too emotional, too excited about something.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm never going to that coffee house again.
Why?
What happened?
It's the third time in a week that I've had lousy service.
I don't expect five-star treatment, but I do expect service industry employees to be at least civil.
What happened this time?
I walked in and went up to the counter to place my order.
The woman working there was talking to her friend, another customer.
I stood there, clearly needing to be waited on, and she couldn't have cared less.
You mean she didn't even acknowledge you?
Are you kidding?
She didn't even stop talking for one second.
When she finally took a breath, I told her my order.
She gave me a dirty look and finally turned around to get my coffee.
She practically threw it at me.
Well, maybe she was having a bad day.
At least you got your coffee.
I got a cup of coffee, but not the kind I ordered.
When I realized it, I went back to the counter and she was still talking to her friend.
I interrupted her and told her that I got the wrong order.
She had the chutzpah to try to tell me that I had made a mistake in telling her my order.
Not only did she not take responsibility for her mistake, she tried to tell me that it was my fault.
That's really infuriating.
What are you going to do?
One good thing about her talking with her friend for so long is that I got her name.
I'll be calling the manager to complain.
Aren't you overreacting?
No, I'm not.
She's lucky I didn't pour the coffee over her head.
The script for this episode was written by someone who never complains, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us 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 2008.
