Elementary‐DailyLife Complaining at  a Restaurant 

(C0107) 

 I’ve been sitting here for the past twenty minutes and no one has offered me a glass of water, brought any bread to the table and our appetizers haven’t been served yet! You know, in this kind of establishment, I’d expect much better service. B: I am sorry, sir. I’ll check on your order right away. C: Relax honey, the place is busy tonight, but I’ve heard the food is amazing. Anyway... 

B: Here you are, sir. The foie gras（French, ‘fat liver’） for the lady, and a mushroom soup for you. A: Waiter, I ordered a cream of mushroom soup with asparagus. This soup is obviously too runny, and it’s over-seasoned. It’s completely inedible! B: Okay, I do apologize for that. Can I bring you another soup, or would you like to order something else? A: Take this foie gras back as well, it’s rubbery and completely overcooked. And look at the portion size! How can you charge twenty-five dollars for a sliver of duck liver? B: Right away... sir. C: Honey come on! The foie gras was fine, why are you making such a big deal? Are you trying to get our meal comped again? A: What do you mean? We are paying for this. If I’m shelling out my hard earned bucks, I expect value for money! B: Here you are, sir. I hope it is alright now. The chef has prepared it specially for you. 

he wanted a cream of mushroom, so, it should be a little bit thicker. But in this case it was runny. when something is runny, it’s too liquid. And I think we can relate it to a runny nose, right? when liquid is coming out your nose

if the food is over-seasoned…  it’s another way of saying “It’s too salty”. it’s kind of a fancy, a cooking term.

M: Now, can I say if there’s too much pepper in the food… can I say it’s over-seasoned?

E: Well, um, technically, no. When… when a cook says something is over-seasoned, he’s talking salt only.

 edible.. we add this prefix inedible…  You cannot eat it. it doesn’t mean that physically you can’t eat it. It just means it’s pretty disgusting.

if a food is rubbery, it’s too chewy,  it’s like chewing on the bottom of your shoe,  it’s too hard to chew or to swallow. Apparently, the food was rubbery, because it’s completely overcooked。

it doesn’t mean that it’s burnt, right? maybe you’ve ordered your steak to be rare, but it comes to you well-done. So, it’s not burnt. it’s cooked too much.

this word sliver is like a very small tiny little slice. Okay, I just want a sliver of bacon for breakfast”.

You call this sliver of beef on my plate a meal? There’s almost nothing here!

if you wanna give it a little bit more emphasis, you can say I do apologize.

I’m shelling out my hard earned bucks. gives you the sensation that you don’t really want to pay.  I can’t really afford to shell out four hundred dollars.

“My hard earned money”. or “My hard earned cash”.

 at the end of the meal if they haven’t finished everything, they might ask for a doggy-bag. if you order a big meal you would ask for a doggy-bag and they would bring you a little box or a bag and you would take it to supposedly give it to your dog. 

it’s sort of like code for “I’m gonna eat this tomorrow for lunch”. that steak wrapped up in a fancy sort of foil swan is gonna be pretty delicious the next day.

The Office‐Bad news, boss.(C 0108)

 A:...Now that we have been over the gory details of our disastrous first quarter, Ed! Give us some good news.How are things looking for us in terms of sales this month?

B: Uh well...would you like the bad news first orthe really badnews?

A: What? Ed, don’t tell me you only have bad news! B:our sales have dropped, no plunged, fifty percent in the past month alone光是. We are currently overstocked and overstaffed and our profits are falling fast. The market is in recession and we have no way of moving our inventory, or getting rid of our staff. If we consider redundancies, it would cost us a fortune because of the new regulations governing compensation packages. It’s a real mess.

A: For crying out loud... How fast are we losing money?

B:Um...how can I put this? Let’s just say that at this pace, we will be filing for Chapter eleven in less than three months.

A: What! Geez! How could this have happened? So what’s the bad news?

B: Oh, that’s the really bad news. Our supplier suffered QC problems and, well, half of our production is faulty. We’re going to have to recall all items sold in the last quarter. And the worst part? We’re going to have to shoulder this cost. 

A: Are you joking? Get the supplier on the line now! They have to assume the costs of this mess!

B:We tried that, sir. The factory has gone under and the owner apparently has fled the country.

A: We’re doomed!在劫难逃的

B: There is some really good news though!

A: Really? What!

B: I got offered a new job!

the word gory comes from gore like blood-and-guts, right?

M: Exactly, that’s why it sounds a little bit scary to me.

E: Yep, so, gory details, um, mean all the little, details of a... of a negative or shocking or bad situation.

redundancies are basically firing people. laying people off. People that you don’t need anymore, they are redundancies.in American English we would just say layoffs.

the regulations governing income taxes. People shouldn’t have to give away their hard earned money.

there will be new policies governing corporate levels of pollutions starting next month.compensation packages, it’s all the things that the company gives you when they lay you off, right? a certain portion of your, uh, retirement benefits

To shoulder the burden.it just mean[s]... to carry the responsibility.

a company goes under, it goes bankrupt. if I say this “Lay it on me”, I’m just saying “Tell me”.Very informal, though.

We’ve got to figure out a new marketing strategy, for crying out loud. it kind of reminds me of “Oh, my God!” So, you’re frustrated,

how can I put this? Maybe the truth or what you’re about to say is a little bit strong, so, you wanna soften it up a bit.

Why can’t you come on vacation with us?”

“Mm, how can I put this? Let’s just say that, uh, in nine month you will hear the pitter patter of little feet”.

you’re not saying “My girlfriend is pregnant” you’re giving like a metaphor.

here are two nice sort of complementing phrases for delivering bad news.

I often get confused by the phrase to file for Chapter Eleven versus to file for Chapter Thirteen (13).

 in the United States the bankruptcy law has different chapters or different sections, And Chapter 11 is basically for companies that run out of money, that go bankrupt, so, they have to declare themselves in bankruptcy...they file for Chapter 11. 

M: Chapter 13 is for people. people who have large debts maybe with the car company or the telephone company and they can’t pay, they file for Chapter 13, it’s... kind of a metaphor again. this phrase to file for Chapter 11 or Chapter 13 meaning bankruptcy.

people will say personally that they are filing for Chapter 11. if you file for bankruptcy in some countries you can go to jail. I read recently about this happening in Dubai actually. There is prison for debts. In the U.S. you don’t go to prison for debts.