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Shocked by the price?
How to cancel your order in English.
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A few weeks ago, Michelle shared that she ordered a coffee and it was $12.
So she walked away.
What exactly can you say in these scenarios to let the person know you don't want the product included in the order?
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Hello, Michelle, how's it going today?
Everything is good, Lindsay.
How are you?
I'm feeling great.
We are here on a Friday for this bonus episode.
Amazing.
Happy Friday.
Happy Friday.
We love Fridays.
We're getting into the holidays here.
We're providing some extra content on Fridays for our amazing listeners.
But Michelle, I remember a few weeks ago you were telling us that you walked away from a coffee because it was too expensive.
Someone was, You were.
You went up to a food truck in Florida to order the coffee and then you realized what the price was and you just walked away.
Do you remember when you shared that with us?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So again guys, if you didn't hear um, we'll get, we can give it.
I'll give the episode towards the end, if you want to check it out, so you can hear me tell the story and other things relating to this.
So yeah, I was at.
I remember I really wanted a coffee and I was at the outlets in Florida and Um.
I went up to the stand and I ordered my coffee and then they said Oh, that's going to be 12.
And I was like, Oh, nevermind.
Right.
I can't, I couldn't do it.
You know, there are certain things.
There's a, there's kind of like um, this line that you cross.
You know there's one where okay, that like Oh, that's expensive, but fine.
And then there's the no way goodbye.
Right.
Totally.
I mean, inflation is real.
People do pay more.
They will pay more up to a certain extent.
But once you start to hit that line, people will say no and they will walk away.
That is the walk away point, Michelle.
Yeah, exactly.
The walk away point.
I like that.
So but yeah, I mean, this can I mean, everything is so expensive now.
I mean, coffee is so expensive.
Clothing is so expensive.
Um, just a lot of things are expensive.
So, I mean, what are some, I mean, first of all, Lindsay, have you ever done this?
Have you ever been like, Oh, nevermind.
Thanks.
Yeah.
It's happened before.
I know.
I can't think of a specific time right now, at the moment, but I know that it's happened and I know I feel a little angry on the inside.
There's a little anger in there.
And it's hard.
Cause I think I talked in the other episode about It's not that person probably didn't make the price right.
Unless they're the owner or whatever.
But it can be a little hard to just yeah, you're just kind of like fine.
I really wanted that, but I refuse to.
You know it's against my principles to spend that much money.
Yeah.
It's almost like you're trying to make a point, trying to yeah, assert.
You know that this is not okay.
Right.
Yeah.
I'm sure some people will pay that amount, but it's insane.
If we do pay that, then we will see inflation, right?
We'll see inflation.
We'll see everyone charging $12 for a cup.
I still can't believe that they try.
I mean, it was just a plain coffee, just a coffee.
It was like an iced coffee, but like not, I don't get, I'm not a like, um, I don't put fancy stuff.
I just maybe like some half and half some, you know, maybe a little vanilla, you know something like that.
Cinnamon powder, but not, you know, it wasn't like a very fancy coffee.
Wow.
And I, in my mind, iced coffee should be cheaper because it's mostly ice.
Yeah.
True.
Oh, Dan always goes less ice.
He wants less ice and like he's beating the system.
But then you know, but yeah, so I mean, this is, this is really.
This could happen in many situations.
So yeah, coffee, clothing, something else.
What we're going to talk about today is more for this experience when you ordered something, they tell you the price and you're not interested.
However, I would say we're talking about these standing at the counter moments, I'm going to say.
This is for at the counter of the coffee shop, at the food truck, at the takeout place, right?
Right.
Just important to say as a caveat.
Yeah. this is not for a restaurant when you've already eaten the food.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's too late.
That's too late.
You have to pay that money, obviously.
Just after you consume the thing, it's too late.
But there are moments, especially counter service type situations, where you can, because the thing hasn't been prepared yet.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
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All right.
All right.
Yeah.
I think our listeners are excited for this follow-up, because we kind of left them hanging a little bit last time of what would we say in that scenario?
So let's get into it, Michelle.
All right.
So here we go.
Um, you could say, I'm sorry, that's more than I wanted to spend.
And then, you know, say, could you take that off?
Or?
Right, right.
Can you meaning take it off?
What meaning take it off the bill?
Right?
Or take it off the order?
Yeah.
So for example, I'm sorry, that's more than I wanted to spend.
Can you cancel that order?
Right.
And in some cases it might just be so the difference between take it off and cancel the order is slightly nuanced difference, right?
Maybe you're ordering multiple things and you realize you still want your taco, you still want your like avocado toast, but that coffee is 12.
So you're asking just to take that off, meaning take it off the order.
But canceling the order entirely is if you went up just for the coffee like you did.
Can you cancel it?
Yeah.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So here you could also say, actually, can you take off the... So you want to read the example?
Yeah.
Actually, can you take off the bracelet?
Sorry about that.
And here you're just at a retail store, right?
Right.
Yeah.
Does that ever happen?
Sometimes I feel...
Sometimes I get a little too excited and I'm picking things up for my kids and I'm, you know, and then you get to the end and and then you see, because things add up so quickly,
Lindsay, do you ever feel that way?
Like you're at the grocery store and you're like, I'm getting a few things.
And then you look down and it's 150 and you're like wait, how yeah?
Especially, especially if you go to a place like it's really a boutique, fancy grocery store.
Sometimes they'll go to one of those and i'll realize there's one culprit that's making the bill really high.
It'll be like a 25 thing of grapes or something.
Oh, grapes can be, because then it's always by the pound.
And then you didn't realize you're like holding a nine pound bag and You're like oh, that's 100 of grapes.
Okay.
So clearly I'm going to take that off, right?
Right.
Right.
The culprit.
I love that.
What is the culprit?
You're like, just get rid of that.
The culprit.
The culprit is the offender, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're seeing that your bill is getting higher because you see as it tallies up at the grocery store and you're like wait, why am I spending 50 more than I normally do?
What's going on?
And then you look for those heavy items or those expensive items.
It's the grapes.
It's always the grapes, Michelle.
It's the grapes.
Or, you know, if you want to just be more direct, you can just say, like we said, this is for the coffee situation.
I think I'm going to cancel that.
So yeah, I think I'm going to cancel that.
I'm sorry.
Right.
And this one's really select just selective for I'd say like food trucks, counter ordering things.
Right.
I don't think you would say that if you had like a sweater and right.
And if you're like at a department store or the grocery store, it'd be a little strange if you went and you rung up all your groceries.
I think I'm going to cancel that.
Oh, here's a question.
Do you do self-checkout or do you like to have so much?
I do both depending on my mood or the time of day.
Often, sometimes if I go to Whole Foods or something, there's no one at the checkouts anymore.
Yeah, I know.
So it's just self-checkout.
Yeah, it's interesting.
Yeah, it's harder to come by a person now, but...
I feel like, I don't know, maybe I'm old school.
Sometimes I'm just so tired.
I'm just like, can someone just do this for me?
But if I only have a, yeah.
Especially if you have a lot of produce, because the produce is annoying.
You've got to find the number.
Then you have to put in the weight.
Yes.
Yeah.
I'd rather just space out for a while, you know?
Right.
Oh, my gosh.
So, I mean, I think the key principle here is as long as we are kind and that's what we like to talk about in All Ears English how can we be kind, no matter what?
We're looking for that human connection with the person in front of us.
And we don't wait too long to do it.
Like you're not going to want to do this after, as we said, after the product is created or delivered to you, right?
Right.
Right.
It would be like, oh, I say, you know, with the coffee, oh, can I have iced coffee?
And then they say, sure.
And they're ringing it up and then they tell me right away and I say, oh, just no, no, no.
Right.
It's not like, oh, the coffee is sitting there.
You know, that's that's getting rude if they've prepared it.
Yeah, yeah, that would be really rude.
So do you have to say that it's because of money, Michelle?
I mean, do we have to say why?
No, I don't.
That's completely up to you.
If you don't, I mean, this we've been talking, that's funny.
We've been talking about money and like, yeah, even just a couple episodes ago.
You know, it could be personal.
And so it's up to you.
Just remember that the that the person, like we said, most likely wasn't the one making the decision.
So try not to sound annoyed.
But yeah, we're going to talk more about, you know, how to handle this.
And just I'm going to give you a couple extra quick things that you could say, and then we're going to go into some role plays after the break.
Yeah, let's, let's, good stuff.
So let's take a quick break and then we'll be right back.
All right, good.
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All right, Michelle, we are back.
So are there any times that you wouldn't say something then?
I mean, you would just like pay for it or... I mean, this goes back to what you said, Lindsay.
You can't eat a meal and the bill later and cancel.
It's too late.
There's a short window where you can do this because things are moving quickly, right?
But in general, if you ordered and they say the price and you have the purchase with you, like clothes, and you haven't paid yet,
Maybe, like you know, you see the price on the screen and maybe you thought it was discounted, but it's not.
Then you can use these.
And that's totally fine.
I love it.
There's also two other phrases that are common and their tone is a little bit different.
Right.
And I mean, it depends on the tone that you use.
Right.
Exactly.
So the first one is just forget it.
Right.
So it really depends on how this gets delivered.
Right.
So why don't we deliver this in two ways?
OK.
All right.
First, I'll be.
Well, I won't tell you.
OK.
OK.
Here we go.
So that's seven dollars, please.
Oh, just forget it.
OK.
So should we do it in another tone and then we'll just show you.
OK.
That's seven dollars, please.
Oh, um, just forget it.
Yeah.
So which one was kind of rude?
The first one.
Yeah.
The first one.
Yeah.
The words could lend themselves to rudeness.
Right.
I think if you got to be real careful with this one because it sounds dismissive.
Right.
But if you deliver it in a more positive, oh, just forget it.
Right.
You know, that's probably okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then one more is that's okay.
Do you think this one is a little bit more neutral?
Yeah, I think this one's a little more neutral to friendly, right?
So for example, that'll be $7, please.
Oh, that's okay.
Never mind.
Yeah, I think that one's OK.
I just think the first one, we just want to be real careful with that one.
Yeah, I agree.
I would say that, just forget.
It could sound a little irritated, unless you make it super nice with your voice.
Yes.
So just, you know, good to know.
It's kind of weird because the phrase itself, I think, is kind of rude.
So then but then if you try to make it sound polite, it's probably not going to work out.
I don't know.
It's just you would stay away from it.
I guess.
Sure.
If you want to be if you want to be safe.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You could say that's okay.
All right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that.
Let's do some role plays, Michelle.
Shall we?
Let's do it here.
Okay.
We have a few.
Okay.
Okay.
So in the first one I am the cashier and you bring your clothes up and I'm checking them out and you see on the screen that a shirt you wanted was more expensive than you thought.
Yes.
Okay.
All right.
Oh, how much is the shirt?
Oh, uh, it's $40.
Okay.
Oh, no, I'm sorry.
That's actually more than I wanted to spend.
Can you remove that?
Oh, sure thing.
Thanks.
Yeah.
And this is an example of it's not really a problem.
You know, it's retail and it hasn't.
Like nothing's happened.
Um, so they can just take it out and take it off the bill.
It's not really a problem.
I do this fairly frequently.
Okay.
Wishful thinking, hoping.
Yeah.
Well, maybe when I get up there, it's gonna.
Do you really?
That's so funny.
No.
Yeah.
I feel like this, I feel like this happens to me.
I mean not all the time, but fairly frequently, where i'm like oh, you know, i take away this, or take away that, or you, you just also.
You're kind of making these snap decisions when you're going around, you're picking things up and sure, i like this, i like this, and then maybe you didn't think of the price for something.
And then you're thinking maybe you've been waiting in line, you have a little more time to think about money, and you're like oh no, it's yeah.
Or maybe you got like a one of those automatic updates on your bank balance or something.
And then your whole mindset changes.
This, this kind of thing can happen.
Sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
All right.
Here we go.
Here's the next role play.
Yeah.
So you're buying coffee from a food truck.
So this is, this is the scenario here.
This is the moment.
Okay.
Okay.
So the large coffee is $12.
Oh, 12.
Uh, I'm sorry.
That's actually more than I wanted to spend.
Can we cancel that?
Yeah, no problem.
Thanks.
Yeah.
It's fine.
Friendly.
You're not like hurting anyone.
You're not offending anyone.
We're fine here.
Right?
Exactly.
Last role play.
You are at a big box store and you're buying a bunch of items.
Okay.
Here we go.
All right.
Okay.
So that all comes out to $205.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
How much was the princess toy?
That was 57.
I think I'm going to cancel that.
Sorry.
Oh, okay.
You want me to take that off?
Yes, please.
No problem.
Yeah.
And why do we call it a big box store?
I've always wondered that.
What does that even?
Is it because it's like the structure of the store feels like a big box or what?
I don't know.
Is it because of that or because there are a lot of big boxes in this store?
I don't know.
I don't know.
But what we mean by big box store, Michelle, is what?
Like, let's give some examples.
It's like a Costco, a Kmart, a Target.
I don't think it is actually.
I think Kmart might have gone out of business, but Walmart, Target.
One of those kind of massive stores that sells pretty much everything you're looking for, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just so I am looking it up on ChatGPT.
It says a big box store is I'm quoting, excuse me a large, physically box-shaped retail building, usually part of a national chain.
That sells a wide variety of goods.
Yep.
So, so the physical shape of the store, boxy design of these warehouse style buildings.
And I think around the world these might be a little less common, but I think many places have them as just like outside of the city.
Kind of they tend to be a little outside because you couldn't put a huge.
Most of the time you can't put like, a huge Walmart right in the middle of the city.
Right.
Kind of expensive.
Right.
There used to be a big Kmart in the middle in New York, like by Astor Place.
Do you remember them in New York sometimes?
Yeah, I do.
No, I know what you mean.
Sometimes you did see them, but maybe less and less now, right?
Yeah, I think it went away.
I think, you know what, it turned into a Wegmans.
Oh, Wegmans is good.
Yeah, Wegmans is good.
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Did you spend a fortune?
How to talk about your expensive purchases.
Yeah, we've got a lot of stuff about money and spending and saving, because money is a huge part of our lives.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
I mean, it comes up pretty much daily, I would say.
Yeah.
Just in a small way or in a larger way.
Yeah.
So it's just good to arm yourself with as many tools to talk about it.
Yeah, you got it.
And for our takeaway today, I mean, I think there's a temptation towards self-righteousness, right?
When, you know, something has been priced at a way that we think is out of whack.
And so maybe that makes us feel like we can be a little rude, but that never works out well, right?
That doesn't put good karma into the universe.
And you don't feel good about yourself afterwards.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Because you have to keep in mind that person... more often than not did not set that price.
Right.
Like you said before.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So keep the connection, be friendly, just say, Oh, can you cancel that?
Or something like that.
But, um, I would say that those are the best ways to handle it.
Love it.
Good stuff, Michelle.
Well, thanks for informing us on this.
And I'm glad you got through that scenario.
And I hope for no more $12 coffees in your future.
No more.
No, no, not happening.
Unless it's like a really good coffee, like a really boutique, you know, handpicked.
Once in a lifetime.
The coffee would have to like, make me like, would have to clean my house for me to spend 12, for sure.
All right.
You have a good day today, Michelle.
Talk to you soon.
All right.
Bye.
Bye.
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