hey Lindsay how are you hey there Michelle I'm feeling great do you
have a story for us today did something happen to you recently
I do have a story but first i'm going to ask you a question okay I'll tip you off about my
story have you ever dropped food on the floor at a restaurant or at a grocery store oh yeah
I mean yes yep restaurant and grocery store for sure it's always a little embarrassing and you
kind of look around you're like what do I do right now I don't know what to do yeah yeah
right right right so the other day I was at the grocery store with my kids this is the story and
um I got some raspberries we have a lot of raspberries at our house my daughter loves
them my son not so much if I give him a Raspberry wine I like it um but but I love raspberries too
um and everything if you were to bump into me at the grocery store you would see that I
have my stroller and everything gets shoved under the stroller and that's very common
um and that you'll see like people walking around with their stroller and their groceries underneath
okay um so everything was kind of squished in and it was kind of a crazy day and as soon as I walked
out to the parking lot all of the raspberries fell out and spilled all over oh Michelle oh
my and you've got the two kids with you too at the same time yeah I don't even know how
you do it how do you even do it yeah I don't know there's a just oh my God I don't know I don't know
um so I but I didn't know what to do because I just spent like five dollars on these raspberries
and I didn't you know like I just like I don't want to waste it so but I did I thought oh should
I just go home and just forget it yeah um and then I I you know and just whatever it was the
five bucks and okay fine I'll deal with it but then I thought um you know what they're pretty
nice at the grocery store right they know my face like yeah I go there all the time they know my
kids that you know um I felt bad I didn't want to ask if it could be replaced but I figured why
not ask uh Lindsay what do you think you would do oh that's interesting I would probably go home I
probably wouldn't think about getting it replaced but I don't think it's a bad idea I mean I think
that these days grocery stores are friendly I mean they will I've had situations where I'll get home
and I've bought a thing of oatmeal and it's been opened and I was like oh I cannot go into this I
cannot eat this so I'll bring it back they don't ask for a receipt no questions asked just go back
find another one no problem at all and they're happy too so I think that they would have if
you did do that they would they would give you a free thing of raspberries yes right so I wasn't
sure but the thing is I would have gone home but I needed The Raspberries you needed those
like yeah but they're very important in my house so um I didn't I I the the options were go get go
pay for them again or just ask if there's anything that could be done would they do me a favor
um so it was I was with my kids and it was so hectic but I decided to see and all I wanted to
do was go home um but guys we have talked about other situations that I have in the grocery store
um did you go wait hold on I'm confused so what did you do in the end did you go home or did
you go into and get a free thing of raspberries that I need to know the end of the story Michelle
oh we're coming back to keep you in suspense okay okay all right I guess I can do that I'm gonna
just keep keep everyone in suspense what did I do okay but guys head over to hear more of my grocery
store Adventures episode um of all ears English podcast episode 1167 was got the wrong price at
the grocery store how to stand up for yourself in English so listen to that one for more of the
Michelle grocery Adventures um we should have a whole series yeah we could do a whole course
on this Michelle I mean yeah geez I feel like we just recorded that episode yesterday I mean
honestly it's crazy but anyways guys if you are having a hard time finding all of these episodes
of all ears English right uh they're not all on the blog right they're not they are in different
places but the one place you can find all of them and search for all of them easily is inside our
app and we have our app now for IOS and Android so go over to the App Store type in all ears English
whether it's Google play or Apple App Store type it in hit download or whatever you do with an
app follow I don't know what the terminology is in the app world and go to the search bar
and just type in that episode you will find that episode quickly so it's a good place to listen
that's right all right go on and get it so this is not just about Michelle in New York with the
raspberries right we we like this guys otherwise why would I be doing this this is a common kind
of situation that's why I asked you Lindsay at first did this happen I mean another thing is uh
another scenario a kid may drop an ice cream cone this could happen a lot with kids you know you buy
something and then on immediately the kid drops it I mean um and immediately there's a will it
starts right crying yes exactly exactly make a my son we just my friend gave him a little lollipop
and uh we were on the way home and he dropped it right away in the park and I'm like I cannot let
you have this so he cried and you know it's okay but uh uh so but yeah a little kid might drop an
ice cream cone right when you or your plate might drop at a restaurant yeah yeah for sure that could
happen um or like these things they happen all the time time this is life life is messy
extremely messy uh we make mistakes all the time we're clumsy we trip over things we drop things
normal right oh yeah exactly so let's go over what can you say in this situation and I did go
back she did go back I did go back so this comes a little bit from my experience so what what can you
say in this situation well the first thing is you know I mean you can apologize so what I did was
I went in and there was um it wasn't the man who checked me out the man who checked me out he was
um he's the manager actually okay so but he was busy with other customers there were the lines but
there's always somebody kind of standing in the front so the first thing I did was or the first
thing well I'll say all of the steps and then we'll go through examples so apologize explain
what happened ask for what you want in a nice way and whatever happens be appreciative yeah so those
are four things so apologize so what can you say to apologize Lindsay a couple things okay so again
just to be totally clear with our listeners we're talking about the raspberry situation because
we talked about dropping a lollipop we've talked about ice cream cones a few other things so we're
coming back to the raspberry scenario right you're coming back but you can use this for you could use
this for ice cream you could use this for a lot of things yeah for sure so apologize okay so you're
back in the grocery store here's what you could say write this down guys I'm so sorry to ask this
but um dot dot dot but I dropped my strawberries in the you know in the parking lot or here's your
trademark phrase here Michelle this is a Michelle phrase yeah that's so funny you just called me out
on this I feel funny I feel funny asking this but meaning what there's that funny again right what
do we mean in that case I feel I feel a little awkward I feel a little strange yeah strange good
but dot dot dot right okay and now you explain what happened my blank my raspberries fell all
over the floor or my Fork fell or this glass broke right when we left something like that yes it's
kind of good you know the apologize step because it doesn't mean you have to say I'm sorry right
that is one of the phrases but you're kind of setting it up to just get the feelings out there
like this feels awkward right right right you're not like yeah yeah exactly it's not a horrible
thing you did it was an accident right it was an accident that the raspberries fell yeah yeah yeah
but you're just acknowledging like this is kind of like oh I feel awkward asking this or this is
uh not a typical situation situation necessarily um yeah and then and then you gotta ask for what
you want in a nice way so what are some things you could do though okay is there any way I could you
know get a replacement for these berries so let me say it again is there any way I could get a
replacement for these berries right or Michelle what would be another one uh you could say is it
possible to right so like let's say you uh go let's say you just buy like some a glass like
maybe you know you buy like a set of glasses and uh one breaks right when you leave yeah you know
you don't know but you could say is it possible to get another glass 100 yeah exactly so you're
really asking for what you want here because sometimes people don't know what you're after what
you're looking for right they might just say I'm so sorry or you know so in some cases you might
want to ask for a refund maybe in a different situation right if something like in my case with
the oatmeal uh getting home and finding out my oatmeal has already been opened um maybe I wanted
a refund for that instead of a replacement another oatmeal right and that could be legitimate too
um is there a bonus here that we want to make sure our listeners have yes and I feel like this is key
um to to acknowledge that if the answer is no you understand right this is the idea of like
where I said be appreciative whatever happens this is the fourth step really whatever happens
be appreciative um and you could say I understand if not now do you use that expression Lindsay I
understand if not I understand if not not in those words but I have like I would say something if
it's not possible that's okay there's something right yeah would say for sure right right right
and I always like I feel like I do that a lot if I am asking someone something and I wanna you know I
I say oh you know if not I understand or something like that yeah um so you could say you could just
say that and I feel like you like that's what I said I mean this is pretty much exactly what
happened yeah um and so I spoke to the to the woman working at the front and then you know
I think I think I think overall this goes to a um the idea that if you're friendly yeah things will
probably happen for you yeah and if you just be if you can be upfront about what you need right
um I like the acknowledging it's okay if not because in many cases and so maybe not in the
grocery store case but in some other situation that employee might not have their authorization
to do it right right they would have to right yeah like their boss isn't there they'd have
to get special authorization and they could be in trouble so you need to make sure that you're
having a light footprint I guess we could say yeah right that you wanna and and always and that's so
important I think it's sometimes easy to want to blame oh yeah you know the person you're in
communication with like it's their decision or whatever and you can't take it out on you know
someone who doesn't have the decision making power I mean in any case I don't think you know in this
situation if they say no okay so it was my fault right like yeah you know so and you have to be
okay with that but never you know take it out on you know anyone or especially someone who is like
she ended up having to ask the manager so yeah 100 and we could do another episode about this
on the phone right where it becomes even more challenging when Uh something's not working
or Internet or our cell phone when we're really challenged emotionally right and we really do need
to keep our patients there and how do we do that what are some things we can say to acknowledge
we are frustrated right but we're trying not to take it that's a great idea that's a great idea
idea yeah it's the same situation it's just do we see the person in front of us right really
interesting okay Michelle should we teach our listeners a common phrase here okay yes this one
I felt went really along with this episode so uh what is the what is the phrase I love this phrase
you break it you buy it you break it you buy it so as because you have kids you might see this phrase
all over the place or hear it do you like when you walk into stores do you because when I was a kid
I remember hearing this everywhere like store we would go into the shops right wherever we went as
a family and the store owner would say you break it you buy it yeah yeah because if we were kids
so we were breaking things right right right yes you do hear this kind of thing so this is uh yeah
because you got to be careful like if I go into a store with my son and he starts like playing
with everything and he were to break something I I would be expected to pay for that so that's just a
common thing you might see it written uh you might just hear somebody say you break it you buy it
right um yeah that's just I you know but sometimes there can be such a negative situation I remember
I went to a diner with my uh family this is when my nephew was little and now he's gonna be 10.
um and I remember he broke a plate and they started yelling at my sister-in-law like that
and she was they were like about her mothering skills and she was yeah she
was so upset I mean understandably like this these are things that happen with little kids
or with anybody I mean it just happened so yeah that's strange I wouldn't expect
that at a diner that they would ask you to like pay and attack you they were just yes very very
um it made her feel terrible yeah so um but I mean Lindsay have you ever had to have you
ever broken something and then you had to buy it I'm sure I did as a kid I could yeah like I
said I think this break it you buy it thing goes more for small independent stores where
they can't afford like if the kid comes in breaks a 200 item they they take a massive loss right so
um I do know I got my head stuck in a banister once in in an antique shop Lindsay what do
they get it out with butter I guess I was like four I stuck my head right in there
gosh yeah so I probably broke that banister I don't know if my parents had to pay anything they
probably should have uh yeah they don't probably know oh that's that's pretty funny anyways yeah
um so anyway yeah um and um so do you want to hear what happened yeah what happened yeah they
gave me the raspberries she asked the manager and he looked over I I saw him look to her and he was
like oh yeah and he said like oh these things happen oh yeah and that's you know that's an
expression you might hear someone say it's like oh that's a good another idea we could do like um how
to connect with someone you know about if they make a mistake yeah become an expression a few
things happen um so they did give me the raspberry so I was glad that I asked and that's the that's
the whole story but um yes um so Lindsay should we do a role play absolutely Michelle let's do it
go ahead you started off all right here we go hi I was just in here and bought these I'm so sorry to
ask this but they dropped all over the floor oh no yeah is there any way I could get a replacement oh
let me ask thank you so much I understand if not okay yes we can do that oh thank you yeah that's
good Michelle so it yeah and then you're you're also engaging more deeply with the world I think
well let's go through this and then we'll talk about the takeaway here for our listeners right
so you said it first I'm so sorry to ask this but they dropped all over the floor my strawberries my
raspberries yeah yeah whatever it is uh and then I said is there any way I could get a replacement
ask for what you want and then you said thank you so much I understand if not
and that's what we advised you guys at the end you want to let them know
maybe this is a worker that doesn't have the authority maybe they have a company policy
okay so that's okay if that's the case right and if you and I said yeah you said yes here
but if if you would say no I'm sorry you know you also should just say okay thanks I understand you
know and just walk away it's really not that big of a deal right but yeah yeah I mean what would
you say is the takeaway for a listeners today Michelle I think being nice gets you a long way
um if I had gone in there and with you know and was just like oh my strawberry my raspberries
fell on the ground like um yeah can you can you give me another one you know if I had said it
like that yeah right right exactly like they're not gonna wanna do it I mean but all at the same
time like being nice it doesn't necessarily get you what you want but you have a better chance um
so we gave you know in these situations these are kind of delicate situations that do happen and I
just think that you know I don't know I just think it's always better to try and be nice um you know
and always you know especially in these customer service situations um oh yeah it's it's gonna get
you a further you know it could be with any kind of customer service situation don't and also don't
take it out on people who have no decision-making power no control exactly and then I love that it's
so true Michelle that's the number one thing is just be kind try to be kind in the world yeah and
then the second thing is for listeners guys this episode is very much in line with the last one we
we suggested you go back to when you get the wrong price you get you know it rings up incorrectly at
the grocery store we're having a lot of Michelle's grocery Adventures here but I think the key thread
between those two episodes is engaging more deeply in the world in English so if your personality is
that you would have gone and done that no matter what in your native language you should do that
in your second language or your third or fourth language English that's a good point yes that's
a really good point because not only does it build fluency right this is how we get better in English
but it also makes us feel more connected to the world we could have a connection moment with
that clerk we could have a connection moment with our own confidence levels right feeling
like I can get what I need in the world I can be assertive like I can ask for what I need and and
get it in the world so I just feel like it's a big confidence Builder so if that is your personality
then go for it you know yeah that's great that's great well we'll leave it at that thanks guys and
I hope you all enjoy some raspberries the next time don't drop your don't drop it around don't
drop your raspberries all right good stuff all right talk to you soon Michelle bye bye
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