Hello everyone, and welcome to Real Talk, the Q -Lip series where we teach you the English that you need to know for real world situations.
Joining me today for this lesson is my co -host, Cassie.
Hey there, Cassie, how are you today?
Hey Andrew, I'm doing great as always.
Good to hear it, Cassie.
And today, I think we've got a very helpful lesson planned for everyone.
Guys, today we are going to teach you how to ask for help when you're in a store shopping.
These days there are so many big box stores or huge supermarkets and sometimes we can go into these stores and just wander the aisles, going up the aisles and down the aisles, looking for what we wanna buy.
And yeah, it's kind of a waste of time.
To speed that shopping experience up, you could just ask for help, find the product that you need really quickly and then get on your way.
So that's what we're going to teach you how to do here today is ask for help in a large store, like a department store or a big supermarket.
Think that kind of situation.
So Cassie, we'll get started with this lesson in just a moment.
But before we do, everyone, I want to let you know that there's a helpful study guide and an interactive transcript and a quiz and some other practice exercises for this episode, for this lesson available to all Q -Lips members.
So if you're a Q -Lips member, you can get those helpful study materials that will really allow you to get the most out of studying with Cassie and me today.
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All right. And with that being said, it's time to get started with this lesson.
And Cassie will kick things off by listening to a conversation example between a customer and a department store employee.
The customer is trying to locate a certain product, and he asked the employee for help.
So let's take a listen right right now to see how he does that.
Sounds great. Excuse me, I'm having trouble finding the kitchenware section.
Could you point me in the right direction?
Yeah, sure thing. The kitchenware is on the third floor, next to the home appliances section.
Okay, third floor, thanks.
And hey, while I'm at it, do you know if you carry silicone muffin tins?
Yeah, we do. Once you're in kitchenware, look for the baking supplies aisle.
They should be there, but if you can't find them, just ask any employee on that floor.
They'll help you. All right, perfect.
Thanks. Cassie, do you want to just break down that conversation that we just heard?
What happened in that interaction between the customer and the employee?
Okay, sounds good. Good.
So the customer was looking for the kitchenware section, which is where you can find any of your appliances or tools that you need in the kitchen, of course.
And the first big phrase I want to look at is I'm having trouble finding.
They said I'm having trouble finding the kitchenware section after they said that to the employee.
The employee helped them out in finding that section.
I think I'm having trouble finding blah blah is a great phrase to start this conversation.
Right, Andrew? Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, guys, what you could do here is just keep it simple, right?
You could say, excuse me, where's the kitchenware section?
But that's a little blunt.
It's not too polite.
It's rather direct.
Of course, it's fine.
But I think most Most native speakers wouldn't say that just because it does feel really direct and a little bit impolite.
So maybe saying something like, I'm having trouble finding the kitchenware section.
I'm having trouble finding the men's clothing area of the store.
I'm having trouble finding the produce section.
And the produce section is where fruits and vegetables are sold at a grocery store, right?
Right. That kind of expression is quite polite and a nice way to signal to an employee that you need help finding that area of the store.
Exactly. And to follow up with the politeness factor of this question, the customer then asked, could you point me in the right direction?
Could you point me in the right direction?
And what they're asking here is, you know, the employee doesn't have to physically point, but they're going to then tell the customer which way to go.
Could you give me some help?
Which way should I go?
know. Yeah, exactly.
Again, we could keep it simple and just say, could you show me or could you help me?
But this is a more advanced phrase.
It's more polite, more natural.
Could you point me in the right direction?
And we don't have to limit using this expression only to this situation where you're looking for something in a big store.
You could also use it at the office, right, Cassie, like, maybe I'm a new employee at the office, and Cassie, you're a veteran, you've worked there for 10 years, and I'm trying to learn how to do things the new kind of system at the office, right?
When you enter a new workplace, there's always a certain way to do things for that company or for that office.
Maybe I don't know exactly what to do.
So Cassie, I could ask you for help.
And I could say, Hey, Cassie, could you help me here?
Like, could you point me in the right direction.
How should I file these files?
Like what is the system here for this office?
Right? So you could use it in a lot of different situations when you need help or assistance from someone.
And I also want to clarify, because Andrew and I talked about how funny this is before we started recording.
When we say, could you point me in the right direction?
That means the correct direction, not necessarily to the right.
Yeah. Don't get it confused.
We're We're not talking about left and right here.
Right means correct.
And yeah, it's just one of those little annoying things about English that right can mean direction and it can also mean correct.
And here it's a little bit confusing, right?
Because we're talking about the right direction, but we're talking about correct direction here.
Good point, Cassie.
Yeah. And then continuing through this conversation breakdown, the employee told the customer where to go.
She said, yeah, the kitchenware is on the third floor.
And then the customer said, okay, thanks.
And while I'm at it, while I'm at it is the next kind of interesting phrase that we heard. And yeah, he wanted to ask about some muffin tins, you know, the kind of special baking tin that you use for making muffins or cupcakes.
Hey, he wanted to buy one of those.
So he said, while I'm at it, do you know if you carry silicone muffin tins?
Cassie, maybe you could break this down for us.
Let's do it in two parts.
Let's start with while I'm at it.
What does that mean exactly?
While I'm at it means like while I have you.
Since I'm asking you one question, maybe I might as well just ask you two questions while you're here to help me.
So while I'm at it means while you're here, could I ask you something else?
Yeah, exactly. It's like you're already in the process of doing one thing.
So you might as well do a second connected thing at the same time, right?
Maybe you would go to the gas station to put some gas in your car.
And then while you're at it, you'll also wash your car at the same time.
Go through the car wash.
you're already doing one activity so you can do another second connected activity at the same time so in this case the customer is already asking one question so he might as well ask a second connected question at the same time so that's what while you're at it means and we can use it in a ton of different situations in our daily english conversations and then the next next part of the question is, do you know if you carry silicone muffin tins?
So Cassie, break this one down for us.
Do you know if you carry something is just another way of saying, do you have something?
Usually we would use this phrase when you're in a store where the person you're asking doesn't physically have this thing.
They're talking about, you know, the store as a whole does the store as a whole have this item do they carry this item yeah think about like a huge department store usually the employees at a store you know they work in their one little area but they don't know about every product the store sells so maybe even the employee wouldn't know you know if they sell that item so that's why you phrase it like do you know because maybe that that employee would actually have to check.
Think about if I go to a bookstore, Cassie, and I know you're a big reader, so this is a good example.
Go to a bookstore and maybe you want to ask about a specific book.
Maybe it's not a popular book or bestseller.
So you would ask the employee, do you know if you have this book?
Do you know if you carry this book?
It's like, maybe you don't know.
Maybe you have to check on the computer to find out.
So that's why we ask it in that way.
And here carry, usually we think of the verb to carry, meaning to hold something.
But in this case, it's not to hold.
It means to have in stock, right?
To have it in your store.
So when a store carries a product, it means that they have it available to sell to you.
Very well said, Andrew.
And I think we've pretty much covered everything in this conversation example.
So why don't we move on to conversation example number two?
Yeah, exactly. So for this conversation example, guys, we're going to hear just another conversation again, between a customer and a store employee.
But this time, we're changing settings, we're going from a department store to a large supermarket.
And again, you know, there are 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of products in a large supermarket.
So sometimes it's hard to find and locate exactly what you want.
And it's just a faster way to do things by asking a staff member for help.
So that's what we're going to hear in this conversation example.
And let's take a listen to it right now.
Here we go. I've been looking all over for tahini paste, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Do you know if if you carry it?
Yeah, let me check.
We should have it. I don't know.
It might be in one of three places.
The international food aisle with the spreads near the peanut butter or in the health food section.
Well, I've already checked the spread section with no luck.
Okay. Well, in that case, let me help you track it down.
I'll just check our computer system to see the exact location.
That would be great.
Thank you. Yeah, no worries.
Okay. So it looks like we keep it in the international food section, which is on aisle 7, about halfway down on the left side.
Thank you so much. I'll go right there.
So let's recap this conversation example that we just heard. There was a store employee at a supermarket, supermarket employee and a customer talking about tahini paste.
And they were trying to locate the tahini paste in this massive, massive supermarket.
So Cassidy, let's talk about some of the key phrases and expressions that were important to this conversation.
And the first one the customer says, which was, I've been looking all over for something.
I've been looking all over for tahini paste.
And yeah, basically this expression is communicating that you've already been putting in some some effort, right?
Maybe you're a little bit frustrated in this situation.
And the nuance is that you need some help, right?
You've been looking all over.
You can't find it. Maybe you're a little frustrated and you want some help from the staff.
Andrew, I don't know about you, but I have used this phrase multiple times when talking to someone, for example, maybe I was supposed to meet a friend somewhere, or I was watching my little cousin at the playground and they got away from me.
And when we finally meet up, I'm like, I've been looking all over for you.
Where have you been?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
We use it in that kind of situation all the time.
And it does have that nuance of being a little frustrated, right?
So this person was frustrated with the tahini, but you can also be frustrated with somebody else.
Yeah, you could be frustrated with a little child for wandering off, right?
And you're expressing that you're stressed and worried.
Like, where have you been?
I've been looking all over for you.
Maybe also if you're late for an appointment and you have to leave your house.
And this happened to me recently.
I talked about it in a QLips bonus episode.
Couldn't find my wallet.
And so I was frustrated.
I was like, I've been looking all over for my wallet.
Where is it? Yeah. So this is a good expression to add to your vocabulary to use when you do feel that little bit of frustration.
And speaking of frustration, the next expression also communicates this, right?
I can't seem to find it anywhere.
So the customer said, I've been looking all over for tahini paste and I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Andrew's been looking all over his apartment, but he can't seem to find his wallet anywhere.
Exactly, exactly. Right?
So it's like, can't find it and you're a little bit frustrated.
That nuance is baked in, included into this expression.
Cassie, did you hear anything else interesting from this conversation, maybe something that popped into your mind that you thought it was good for listeners to know about?
This is not a phrase, but it is a vocabulary word, the spreads section.
I love the spreads section of a grocery store.
Regular Q -Lips listeners will know that I'm a peanut butter lover and I'm happy here in Korea, Cassie.
Have you noticed there's a peanut butter?
I don't want to say Renaissance because Renaissance means a rebirth.
I don't think peanut butter was ever too popular, but suddenly it has exploded in popularity and there's all kinds of new peanut butter products available on the shelves at the grocery store.
So I'm super happy about that.
Yeah, me too. Have you noticed that at all?
I have and also the other types of weird spreads weird and enjoyable.
For example, pistachio spread and Nutella and cookie butter so much. Yeah.
And in North America, there's all kinds of different nut butters as well, right?
Like almond butter, or cashew butter.
And I should mention here, guys, just in case you're You're not familiar with these foods.
It has nothing to do with butter.
My wife initially was confused about that.
She was like, I don't want to eat peanut butter because I don't like butter too much. She doesn't really enjoy a kind of creamy, buttery flavor.
And I said, no, no, no. It's just the name.
There's no butter in it.
It's just made from peanuts.
All of these kind of nut butters, the nut has been ground into a consistency that maybe is similar to butter, but there's no connection to the dairy product butter.
butter. So don't have to worry about that.
But that's what you'll find in the spreads aisle, jams, jellies, nut butters, that kind of thing.
Another phrase that I liked, it's similar to this this feeling of frustration that we got from I've been looking all over and I can't seem to find it anywhere.
The customer also said, I've checked the spread section with no luck.
This person is just repeating their frustration.
I can't find it. I've had no luck.
I'm completely lost. Please help a guy out or in this case, a gal out.
Yeah, no luck. This just means you are very unsuccessful at trying to do something, right?
I've tried to do something with no luck.
I've tried to find the tahini paste with no luck.
You just can't find it.
You've been unsuccessful at at doing that.
And then Cassie, I think the last key expression from this example that I wanted to talk about was how the store employee responded.
He said, okay, let me help you track it down.
Let me help you track it down.
Let me help you track that tahini paste down.
So this is a nice phrasal verb.
And what does it mean?
What does track something down mean?
The visual that comes comes to my mind is tracking an animal which means you know like a hunter in the woods would look at their their footprints their tracks on the ground and use that to go look for it and hunt it and hopefully kill it if they're lucky unfortunately that's that's what hunters do anyway but in this case it's similar uh you're you're trying to go hunt down that item you're you're trying to track it down.
Yeah. So here it just means to find something, right?
When something is difficult to locate and you're trying to find it, we can use that phrasal verb to track it down.
Cassie, I'm wondering if any other examples come to mind.
Could you give us maybe a few situations where we could use track it down to talk about finding something?
As a teacher, maybe I have a student that I need them to sign a form, or I have another teacher that I want to ask them a question, but maybe I go to their room and they're not there.
Like, okay, so then I try to track them down by going to different places in the school.
Maybe it's really important that I see them right now.
So I have to do a little bit more extra effort in finding them.
I have to track them down.
Yeah, I love that. That is a very good example.
And I think this imagery of hunting is a really good image to keep in your mind.
It's almost like you're a hunting dog, like a basset hound, right?
You're on the hunt with the hunter and you're using your senses, your nose to try and find what it is you're looking for.
Another example I could think of is maybe if you're a collector of something, maybe a collector of rare books or a collector of LPs or something like records, old records.
Maybe you have a record or a book that you want to add to your collection, but it's not easy to find, and you could try and track it down by going to all of the different stores in your city to see if they have it, or going to the internet and searching used record stores or different used bookstores online to see if you could track down that rare book or record that you want to buy.
Those are some other ways that we could use it.
Well, Cassie, I think that'll bring us almost to the end of this episode.
And I thought just quickly before we wrap things up, we could say a few things about store culture, shopping culture in North America.
And my opinion, it's never really rude to ask for help in this kind of situation.
That's what the staff is there for.
And they're trained to deal with customers.
Having good customer service is something that many retail outlets, many stores really value and they want to have good interactions between staff and customers.
So yeah, I don't think you need to be shy about interacting with store staff in this way.
I think it's totally fine to ask for help if you need it.
I totally agree. And if it's a really big store, oftentimes they have an information desk somewhere near the front, maybe to the left of the checkout counter.
So you can, if you can't find any employees walking around the aisles, you can always go go back to the front of the store and try to look for the information desk.
Yeah, very good point.
Well, guys, I think that's going to be it for today.
So thank you for listening all the way to the end of this lesson.
And guys, don't forget about the helpful study guide and interactive transcript available for this episode on our website, qlips .com for all QLips members.
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