AEE 1994: Don't Drop Your Raspberries! Michelle's Grocery Store Adventures

This is an All Ears English Podcast, episode 1994. Don't drop your raspberries, Michelle's grocery store adventures. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. With your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe. In today's episode, Michelle shares another story at the grocery store. If you drop a product on the floor or on the ground on the way to your car, how can you ask for a replacement in English? Get all of the details for this key confidence moment in this episode. 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 and it'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. Yeah, a 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? What to do? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right, right. So the other day I was at the grocery store with my kids. This is the story and 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, why? I like that. But it's, but I love raspberries too. And everything, if you were to bump into me at the grocery store, you would see that I have my stroller and everything that's shoved under the stroller. And that's very common in that you'll see like people walking around with their stroller and their groceries underneath. 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 the parking lot. Oh, Michelle, oh my, and you've got the two kids with you too at the same time. Yes. I don't even know how you do it. How do you even do it? I don't know. There's just, oh my God, I don't know. I don't know. So I, but I didn't know what to do because I just spent like $5 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. And then I, you know, and just whatever was the five bucks and okay fine, I'll deal with it. But then I thought, you know what, they're pretty nice at the grocery store. They know my face. I go there all the time. They know my kids that, you know, I felt bad. I didn't want to ask if it could be replaced, but I figured why not ask? Yeah. 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 raspberries. Yes. That's very important in my house. So I didn't, the options were, we'll get, go pay for them again, or just ask if there's anything that can be done, would they do me a favor? 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. But guys, we have talked about other situations that I have in the grocery store. So wait, I'm confused. Did you go? Oh, 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? I need to know the end of the story, Michelle. Oh, okay. Well, I guess we're going to, I will talk, let, we'll talk about it and keep you in suspense. Okay. Okay. All right. I guess I can do that. That's I'm going to just keep, keep everyone in suspense. What did I do? Okay. But guys, head over to hear more of my grocery store adventures episode of all ears English. Podcasts 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. 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 know. Honestly, it's crazy. But anyways, guys, if you are having a hard time finding all of these episodes of all ears English, right, they're not all on the blog, right? They're not there 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 like this guys. Otherwise, why would I be doing this? This is a common kind of situation. That's why I asked you Lindsey at first that this is happened. I mean, another thing is another scenario, a kid may drop an ice cream cone. This could happen a lot with kids. You know, you buy something and then all immediately the kid drops it. I mean, and immediately there's a will. It starts right crying. Yes, exactly. Exactly. My son, we just, my friend gave him a little lollipop and we were on the way home and he dropped it right away in the park and like, I cannot let you have this. So he cried and you know, it's okay. But, but yeah, a little kid in my job in an ice cream cone right when you or your plate might drop at a restaurant. Yeah. I'm not sure if I'm for sure that could happen or like these things they happen all the time. This is life. Life is messy, extremely messy. We make mistakes all the time or 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, 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. Mm hmm. Explain what happened. Ask for what you want in a nice way and whatever happens, be appreciative. Yes. So, um, I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. 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I think this break-it-you-buy-it thing goes more for small independent stores where they can't afford. If the kid comes in and breaks a $200 item, they take a massive loss. I do know I got my head stuck in a banister once in an antique job. Lindsay, what did they get it at with butter? I was like four. I stuck my head right in there. Oh my gosh. I probably broke that banister. I don't know if my parents had to pay anything. They probably should have. People don't shop. They don't probably don't. That's pretty funny. Anyways. Anyway, yeah. Do you want to hear what happened? Yeah. What happened? They gave me the raspberries. She asked the manager and he looked over. I saw him look to her and he was like, oh yeah. And he said, oh, these things happened. Oh, yeah. That's an expression you might hear someone say. Oh, that's a good idea. We could do how to connect with someone, you know, but if they make a mistake and these things happen. These things happen. So they did give me the raspberries. I was glad that I asked. And that's the whole story. That's the story. Yes. So, Lindsay, should we do a role play? Absolutely, Michelle. Let's do it. Go ahead. You started off. All right. Here we go. I'm 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 it 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. And then I said, is there any way I could get a replacement? Yeah. Yeah. That's for what I want. Yeah. Mm hmm. As 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 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? Yeah. So, yeah. What would you say is the takeaway for our listeners today, Michelle? I think being nice gets you a long way. If I had gone in there and with, you know, one was just like, oh, my strawberry, my raspberry is fell on the ground. Yeah. Like, um, yeah, can you, can you give me another one? You know, if I had said it like that, like a true New York. Yeah. Right. Right. Exactly. Like they're not gonna want to 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. 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 the, oh, 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. 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 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. Yeah. That's great. That's great. Well, we'll leave it up that. Thanks guys. And I hope you all enjoy some raspberries the next time you get that. Don't drop your don't drop your raspberries. Don't drop your raspberries. Good stuff. Alright. Talk to you soon, Michelle. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to all ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Make our two minute quiz, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time. ♪♪♪♪