식당에서 불만 말하기 : 해설편

#. 식당에서 불만 말하기 : 해설편

 

I'm sorry. I really hate to do this, but my soup is cold. Would it be possible to have it warmed up?

> Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about that.

 

The first part that we'll look at is when the customer actually makes the complaint, and he expresses the problem to the server.

OK, Sue, so when he made the complaint, he started by apologizing. Yeah. Now, why do you think he apologized before he made his complaint? Why do we do this in English?

I think it's because you know that what's coming is really a negative comment. You're saying that you don't like what they're offering. So you're kind of apologizing in advance. Yeah, and it's also a way to show that you're not being rude.

Starting a complaint by offering an apology is a very nice way to do it and really a natural way to make a complaint as well. Exactly, and you're showing that you're aware of the inconvenience in the situation. And you're not just being mean.

It's important to remember that the server is merely the person who serves you and is not the person who cooked the food. So most of the time, it's not their fault that the food is not the way you want it. They're simply the messenger and the server.

 

> You know what? To make up for it, your meal will be on the house.

Wow, really? wow, that's very generous. Thanks a lot.

 

Suzzane, let's move on to the second important part of this conversation and this is when the server apologizes to the customer.

OK, so in the apology, the server used really interesting expressions. And the server when she apologizes, "Oh, to make up for it, your meal's on the house." Mmhmm. So what does it mean if you make up for something?

Well, to make up for something is to make up for the deficiency. So there was a mistake, and in a way, it kind of brought down the level of the experience. And so now, they're trying to bring the experience back up to a positive level.

This is another great expression, on the house. So maybe, Sue, you could explain to everybody what on the house means?

Yeah, so the restaurant is considered the house. And so when anytime someone says it's on the house, it means it's free. It means that the bar, the restaurant, or the store is going to pay for it. And you get to have it for nothing, which is always nice.

 

> Yeah, it's the least we can do. Enjoy your meal, and if you need anything, just let me know.

 

Yeah, the very last on that we're gonna look at is just a nice set expression that you can tell somebody in response to making up for a mistake that you made. OK? And this expression is it's the least I can do or it's the least we can do.

In this conversation, it almost seems that giving him a free meal is really quite nice. It's kind of some of the most they can do, no? I think it's a very nice gesture. It is a nice gesture, and you're making a good point there.

That it's going above and beyond what the restaurant has to do. This expression is just a fixed expression that we use whenever we're trying to make up for something, and somebody thanks us for that gesture of making an effort.

 

• merely  ˈmɪrli 한낱, 그저, 단지   deficiency dɪˈfɪʃnsi  (필수적인 것의) 결핍[부족](증), (=shortage)   in a way 어느 정도는, 어떤 면에서는

• bring down 내리다, 떨어뜨리다, 파멸[도산]시키다, 붕괴시키다, 콧대를 꺾다.  gesture ˈdʒestʃə 몸짓, 제스처