Order Food in an American Restaurant
Vanessa: Hi, I’m Vanessa from
speakenglishwithvanessa.com.
Are you hungry? I hope so. Let’s talk about it.
Do you like to cook meals at home nonstop,
then doing the dishes and then preparing
what you’re going to make for the next meal
all the time? Probably not. Sometimes it’s
nice to go to a restaurant, but nowadays
things have changed a bit. Here in the U.S.
restaurants are slowly starting to
open, but not everyone feels comfortable
going to a restaurant. For me, I have two young
children. So, even without the current situation,
it’s still a little bit complicated to go into
a restaurant. But we don’t always want to cook.
Sometimes it’s nice to eat restaurant food.
So, what we can do is order food on the phone,
pick up the food and take it home to eat.
Or sometimes we take it to a park to eat.
And that is what I would like to do today
with you. I’d like to invite you to join me
as I order food on the phone and pick it up.
This is a very natural daily life situation.
You are going to hear a fast conversation that I
have on the phone with the woman who’s working at
the restaurant. But after each short clip from the
conversation, I’m going to be explaining to you
the phrases we used, the different expressions, so
that you can use this as well, because sometimes
talking on the phone is tough. You can’t see the
other person, but also there’s a lot of background
noise. Sometimes the restaurant is loud. The
person on the phone is just speaking quickly.
They’re not thinking about your perspective.
So, today I want to break down this conversation
and help you to tackle this seemingly tough
situation. But after this conversation,
I hope it will be more doable and approachable.
We’re going to be watching each of the clips
from the conversation, one time, then I’m
going to explain it and then you’ll watch
it again after my explanation. I hope that the
second time will be more understandable to you.
Your listening skills will have improved. Your
grammar and vocabulary will have improved.
So, put your helmet on, put your seatbelt on. This
is going to be a fast ride, but you can do it.
All right. Let’s get started with my clip.
We just got back from a hike and I’m so hungry,
but we really don’t have much food in our fridge.
So, we decided to order out and I thought I would
invite you to join me in the process of ordering
food out at a restaurant to go pick up. So,
let’s see what happens.
Waitress: Stoney Knob
Cafe, this is Mackenzie, how can I help you?
Vanessa: Hi, I’d like to make an order for pickup.
This was a pretty fast start. Wasn’t it? Well, in
this first clip, I introduced what I wanted to do
very clearly and directly. I said, “I would
like to make an order for pickup.” For pickup,
means that I’m going to be the one getting the
food, but we could switch that out and say,
“I would like to make a order for delivery.”
And that means that, that restaurant
will bring the food to your house. Now, this
is typically, in the U.S., only available for
big restaurants, like chain restaurants,
the restaurant that I’m ordering from,
there’s only one of them near my house. It’s
not an international, or even a national,
or even a citywide restaurant. There’s only one
of them. So, they don’t have a delivery service.
So, that’s why I said, “for pickup” and I used
the verb “would”. “I would like”, very polite,
“I would like to make an order for pickup.” All
right, we’re going to listen to that clip one more
time. I hope that you’ll be able to understand a
little bit more. I know it starts off with a bang,
but I hope you’ll be able to understand a little
bit more. We’re going to listen to that first
part of the clip. And then you’re going to
watch the second part of the clip as well,
that I’ll explain in just a minute. Let’s go.
Waitress: Stoney Knob Cafe, this is Mackenzie,
how can I help you?
Vanessa: Hi. I’d like
to make an order for pickup?
Waitress: Yeah, that’s all
right. What can I get for you?
Vanessa: Yes. I’d like to get
the duck spring rolls.
Waitress: All right.
Vanessa: Also, a big Greek salad.
Waitress: All right.
Vanessa: You heard, “What can I get for
you?” She said, “What can I get for you?”
This is a common restaurant expression when
you’re ordering on the phone. She wants to
know what are you going to order. This is
similar to the phrase. “How can I help you?”
But usually we hear, “What can I get for you?”
At a restaurant, and “How can I help you?”
In a retail store, where you’re going to buy
clothes or buy a phone or something like this.
Notice that in my answer, I used the word “the”,
before my order, this is extremely common in a
restaurant. I said, “the duck spring rolls.",
“I’d like to order the duck spring rolls.” I’m
talking about a specific item on the menu. So,
you might say, as you were looking at the menu,
even in a fast food restaurant, you might
say, “Oh, I’d like to order the number five
pork dumplings.” Okay. You’re talking about
that specific item, the number five. All right.
Now we’re going to listen to that clip one more
time. Listen for “What can I get for you?” And my
answer, “the duck spring rolls.” After we listen
to that clip, we’re going to immediately listen to
the next clip. So, get ready. Let’s listen.
Waitress: Yeah. That’s all right.
What can I get for you?
Vanessa: Yes. I’d like to get
the duck spring rolls.
Waitress: All right.
Vanessa: Also, a big Greek salad.
Waitress: All right.
Vanessa: Also, Enter the Dragon.
Waitress: And how did you want that cooked?
Vanessa: What do you recommend?
Waitress: We recommend medium rare to rare.
Vanessa: Okay. How about medium rare?
Waitress: Alrighty.
Vanessa: There is a lot happening in
this short clip, I ordered a tuna dish,
and this dish just has a fancy name, “Enter the
Dragon”, on their menu. She asked me an important
question. She said, “How did you want that
cooked?” Notice that she uses the past tense. “How
did you want that cooked?” And you can
use this equally the same amount as, “How
do you want that cooked?” She could have asked
me either question and they both would have been
equally fine. “How did you want that
cooked?”, “How do you want that cooked?”
Sometimes we use these kinds of flexible tenses
to be more polite in these restaurant situations.
Unless you are working in a restaurant, maybe you
are, you don’t need to worry about the tense. It’s
more important to understand the context and how
to answer, but you might hear people say this,
“How did you want that cooked?”
Or “How do you want that cooked?”
She’s asking about how done or how cooked I want
my tuna. This is often asked for fish like tuna,
salmon, and sometimes for hamburgers or
steak, which you’ll see in just a minute.
There are different levels of doneness. This is
what we call it, doneness. How much you would like
it cooked. There is rare, which is basically raw,
very red in the middle. Then we have medium rare,
pretty red still. Then we have medium, a little
pink in the middle. Then we have medium well,
just a small amount of pink. And then well done
or well, and this is no pink in the middle,
this is completely cooked. Usually, this is
not recommended for these types of meats.
So, what I like to do is what you just saw. I
like to ask the restaurant what they recommend.
You’re welcome to do this too. This is very
common in a restaurant. I want to know what the
chef or what the restaurant thinks is the best
amount of doneness for the meat. I don’t want it
overcooked. I don’t want it undercooked. I want
them to make the best decision here. Of course,
if you have some special diet needs, then you
can say what you want and it’s not going to
offend the restaurant. If they say, “We recommend
medium.” And you say, “Oh, no, no, no, I don’t
want any red. I want it to be well done.” That’s
fine. They’ll do what you want. The customer is
always right. But for me, I like to ask what they
recommend. You also heard me say this phrase,
“How about medium rare?”. “How about”, why
did I say this? Usually, we use “how about”
to give a polite suggestion to other people.
For example, you might say to your friends,
“How about we go to the beach this afternoon?”
And you’re just giving a suggestion. You’re
not saying, “We have to go to the beach.”
You’re just giving a suggestion. Does it
seem a little bit strange that the customer
would give a suggestion to the restaurant?
Because they will do whatever I want. I’m the
customer. This is very normal. Why do I need to
give a suggestion? Well, I’m just being polite.
This is a common phrase that we use when we’re in
these type of restaurant or store situations.
Let’s imagine that you’re trying on a shirt
in a store and you like the shirt, but you don’t
exactly like the color. So, the employee comes
to you and says, “Can I get that for you in
a different color?” You might say, “Yeah.
How about red?” You’re suggesting, “I would like
to try this shirt, but in a different color”,
you might say, “Yeah. How about red?” Or you
could also say, “Do you have red? I’d like to try
red.” But we often use this lovely expression, how
about. “How about medium rare?”, “How about red?”
Great. All right. Let’s watch that clip one
more time. I want you to listen carefully for
how she asked me about how I want it cooked, how I
answered, how I said, “how about”, and then we’re
going to go on to the next clip where I’m also
going to continue my order. Listen carefully.
Also, Enter the Dragon.
Waitress:
And how did you want that cooked?
Vanessa: What do you recommend?
Waitress: We recommend medium rare to rare.
Vanessa: Okay. How about medium rare?
Waitress: Alrighty.
Vanessa: And finally,
the Gustavo’s Gourmet Hamburger Steak.
Waitress: All right. Wonderful.
And how would you like that cooked?
Vanessa: What do you think? You
think medium well is normal for that?
Waitress: Most people go for medium on that one.
Vanessa: Okay. Let’s just do medium then.
All right. In this clip, I finished ordering
all of the food that I was going to get
because I… You’ll see later, I have a gift
certificate. So, I decided to order a lot of
food because I wouldn’t really need to pay for it.
But did you notice in this clip, if you did not,
when we watch it again, please try to notice. I
said, “the”, in front of my order, “the Gustavo’s
Hamburger Steak”. The, because I’m talking
about a specific item on their menu.
When I asked her about what is normal
for the doneness of the hamburger steak,
she said, “Most people go for medium on that
one.” Do you know this phrasal verb, “to go
for”? “Most people go for medium on this one.”
It is extremely common to use this phrasal verb
in restaurants. When you are ordering something,
you might say, “All right, I’m going to go for the
tuna and the steak.”, “I’m going to go for the
salad.”. “I’m going to go for”, this just means to
choose. “I’m going to choose that one.” But we use
this phrasal verb a lot when we’re ordering in a
restaurant. All right, let’s watch that clip again
and go on to the next clip. Listen carefully.
And finally, the Gustavo’s
Gourmet Hamburger Steak.
Waitress: All right. Wonderful.
And how would you like that cooked?
Vanessa: What do you think? You
think medium well is normal for that?
Waitress: Most people go for medium on that one.
Vanessa: Okay. Let’s just do medium then.
Waitress: Alrighty. And anything else for you?
Vanessa: That’s all.
Waitress: All right. So, that’s the duck spring
rolls. The Greek salad. The tuna, cooked medium
rare. Then the Gustavo, cooked medium?
Vanessa: Yes. That’s it.
Here, she is repeating my order to make sure that
I got everything correct. I think this is a common
practice around the world in restaurants. It seems
like a good idea, right? But I used two phrases
with the word “that”, they’re slightly different.
So, I want to help you understand them and also
use them because we use them all the time,
like a lot of expressions from this video. So,
when she asks, “Anything else for you?” She’s
wanting to know, are you going to order anything
else? “Anything else for you?” And I said,
“That’s all.” That’s all, means I’m finished.
There is no more. This is the end. That’s all.
It’s not rude to say, it is extremely helpful,
in fact, to say, “Anything else I can get
for you.”, “Nope. That’s all. Thank you.”
After she listed all of the things that I
ordered, I said, “That’s it.” That’s it.
“Yes. That’s it.” How is this different from
“That’s all.”? Well here, I’m telling her,
“You got it, correct. That’s it.” This is common
in other situations too, not just restaurants.
This is very useful for you, as an English
learner. If you’re having a conversation and
you forget a word, which happens to us
all, even for native English speakers,
this happens too, you might be talking
about an experience you had driving.
“I was driving down the street, and then a dog ran
into the road and I didn’t want to hit the dog.
So, I turned my car and I ran into a… What’s
that word? The thing on the side of the road,
it goes down. Rain is in it sometimes.” And your
friend might say, “A ditch, you ran into a ditch.”
And here you can use our key expression. You can
say, “That’s it. Yes. I ran into a ditch.” You’re
letting that person know, with enthusiasm, that
they got it correct. That was the word that you
were thinking of. So, here I used “that’s it” to
tell her, “You got my order, correct. Yep. That’s
it.” Or you can tell your friend, “That’s it. You
understood the word that I was trying to say.”
All right, let’s go back and watch this
clip and then go on to the next clip.
Waitress: Alrighty. And anything else for you?
Vanessa: That’s all.
Waitress: All right. So, that’s the duck spring
rolls. The Greek salad. The tuna, cooked medium
rare. Then the Gustavo, cooked medium?
Vanessa: Yes, that’s it.
Waitress: All right. Perfect.
We’ll have this ready for pickup
in probably about 15 minutes. Is that okay?
Vanessa: Yes. I have a quick question though,
I was given a gift certificate
to Stoney Knob. When I pay,
should I just bring that
with me or what should I do?
Because I don’t order pickup very often. I wasn’t
sure what this restaurant wanted to do. I didn’t
know if they wanted me to pay over the phone,
sometimes they’ll ask for your card number over
the phone, or if they wanted me to just pay when
I went to the restaurant. So, that’s why I asked,
and because I had a gift certificate, I wasn’t
sure what their process was. So, I simply asked
them, “What should I do?” And this is good
news for you because maybe there’s multiple
cultural practices that you’re not sure
about. It is no problem to ask. I asked,
you saw me ask, I didn’t know what to do. This
is my home country. I feel familiar with a lot
of the customs, but there’s still things
that I don’t know too. And I want to make
sure that I’m being polite to that restaurant.
So, I just asked, “What should I do?” And I
also… Because it’s a gift certificate, I wanted
them to be aware of this, in case there were any
little rules about the gift certificate, sometimes
gift certificates or gift cards have rules like,
you need to go into the store to pay, or you
need to spend this much money to use it. So,
I just wanted them to be aware so that there
were no surprises when I went to pick up my food.
All right. Let’s watch this clip
and then go on to our next one.
Waitress: All right. Perfect. We’ll have
this ready for pickup in probably about
15 minutes. Is that okay?
Vanessa: Yes. I have a quick question though,
I was given a gift certificate to
Stoney Knob. When I pay, should I
just bring that with me or what should I do?
Waitress: Yeah. Just bring it with you and we’ll
be able to… We can just take it from you. You
can either come in to pay with it, or we can just
take it from you in the car and do it inside.
Vanessa: Okay.
Waitress: So, either way, yeah.
But just bring it with you.
Vanessa: In this clip, she’s giving me two
options. One option is, I can go into the
restaurant and pay for the food when I arrive, or
they will come to my car, take my payment, go in,
make the payment and bring it back to me. There
are two options. She uses a lovely expression
here. She says, “either way”, you can use this
in so many situations in daily life. If you and
your friend are going to drive to the beach, and
you’re not sure whose car you’re going to take,
you might say, “Well, should you drive, or should
I?” And your friend might say, “I don’t know,
either way is fine with me.” Or if your friend
says, “Well, do you want to cook tonight,
or do you want to go to a restaurant?” You
might say, “Oh, either way is fine with me.”
Either way. Both of these are okay with you,
either way. All right, let’s go and watch
this clip again and then go on to our next one.
Waitress: Yeah. Just bring it with you and we’ll
be able to… We can just take it from you. You
can either come in to pay with it, or we can just
take it from you in the car and do it inside.
Vanessa: Okay.
Waitress: So, either way, yeah.
But just bring it with you.
Vanessa: Okay. I should just
give you a call when I get there?
Waitress: Yes, ma’am. That would be great.
Vanessa: I live in the South of the U.S. and it is
quite common to use the term “ma’am”, even though
I’m probably not that much older than she is. I’m
not her mother or her grandmother, but it’s still
polite in the South to say “ma’am”. So, if someone
asks me a question, I might say, “Oh, yes, ma’am,
that’s right.” If I’m talking on the phone to my
bank, or even if I go into a restaurant, I might
say that or into the bank, this is polite, but it
is not necessary. If you say this in the North
or in the West or in the Midwest of the U.S.,
I don’t think this is as common,
but in the South of the U.S.,
when you say “ma’am”, this is only for women, just
to let you know, when you say “ma’am”, to a woman,
or “yes, sir”, to a man, their eyes get all
sparkly and lit up because you’re being so polite.
And in Southern culture, where I live, this
is kind of what children are taught. They’re
taught that when you say “Yes, ma’am. Yes,
sir.” You’re being polite to older people,
but even in restaurant situations,
when there’s not a big age difference,
this is still a polite situation with a store
and a customer. So, you’re going to hear those
expressions if you visit the South of the U.S.
Please don’t feel like you need to use, ma’am,
when you’re talking with people on a daily basis,
but I just wanted you to know why she said “ma’am”
to me on the phone. All right. Let’s watch that
clip one more time and then go on to our next one.
Okay. I should just give
you a call when I get there?
Waitress: Yes, ma’am. That would be great.
Vanessa: All right.
Waitress: And, let me see.
What’s the name for your order?
Vanessa: Vanessa.
Waitress: And a phone number?
Vanessa: It’s (412)…
Did you hear that question she asked?
“What’s the name for the order?” Why didn’t she
ask me, “What’s your name?” She wants to know who
can they write on the receipt or on the ticket
so they could deliver it to the right person
in their car. But why didn’t she ask me
“What’s your name?” She could have said that,
and you might hear that sometimes for pickup
orders, but it’s a little bit more common to hear,
“What’s the name for the order?” Because maybe I’m
not going to be the person who picks up the order.
Maybe it’s going to be someone else. Maybe I’m
making an order for someone else. For some reason,
this expression is just more common in restaurant
situations, when you’re making an order.
“What’s the name for the order?” It
feels a little more indirect, too.
Not too personal like, “What’s your name? I want
be your friend.” It’s a little more separated. So,
you feel like it’s a professional situation.
They’re only asking for a business reason,
not for a personal reason. “What’s the name
for the order?” And I just told her my name.
Okay. Let’s watch that little clip again, and then
we will finish this first conversation in the next
clip. All right. Take a deep breath. Let’s watch.
Waitress: And, let me see. What’s the name
for your order?
Vanessa: Vanessa.
Waitress: And a phone number?
Vanessa: It’s (412)…
Waitress: All right. And so, if you don’t mind,
just give us a call when you pull in. We’ll bring
it out to you and get the gift card and all that.
Vanessa: Okay. Thank you so much.
Waitress: No problem. We’ll see you then.
Vanessa: Bye.
Waitress: All right. Bye-bye.
Vanessa: She uses another polite expression here,
“if you don’t mind, just give us a call when you
pull in.” This phrase, “If you don’t mind.” Is
lovely to use in business situations, or
just any time that you want to be polite.
You might ask your co-worker, “If you don’t mind,
can you send me an email when you’re all done?”
If you don’t mind. Or maybe my husband
already has a long list of things that he’s
going to make at the grocery store, or things
that he’s going to buy at the grocery store,
and as he’s leaving the door, I might say, “Oh,
wait. If you don’t mind, can you pick up another
bag of apples?” This is a little bit… Maybe
a little bit inconvenient for him because
he already has a list, he’s about to leave.
So, I just want to use this polite expression.
You don’t always need to use it, but there are
many situations when you can, just to be polite.
Did you recognize that she used a phrasal verb at
the end of her question? To pull in. Do you know
what that means? “Just give us a call when you
pull in.” This is talking about my car arriving
to the parking lot. That means that I have arrived
at the restaurant. You might use this phrasal verb
to text your friend, or to call your friend, when
you are meeting her at a store, for example. You
might say, “Hey, I’ll be in, in a minute. I just
pulled in.” That means that your car just arrived
in the parking lot. This is especially if you’re
driving. If you’re taking the bus, you might say,
“Yeah, the bus just pulled in. I’ll be there in
just a second.” But we use it more often for when
we’re driving. “I just pulled in. I’ll be inside
in a minute.” All right. We have successfully made
an order on the phone, but we need to pick it up.
So, there’s a couple more clips that I’d like to
show you so that you can successfully pick up
food in English. Let’s watch the first clip.
Hey, so sorry.
Waitress: No, you’re fine.
Vanessa: I was coming to pick up a pickup order.
Waitress: Okay. What was the name?
Vanessa: Vanessa.
Waitress: Vanessa. Okay,
I’ll go see if that’s ready.
Vanessa: Thank you.
I used the phrase. “I was coming to pick up a
pickup order.” You see how I use this as a verb,
to pick up. And then also as a noun, a
pickup order. It’s the same idea here,
but I used an interesting verb tense. I said, “I
was coming.” Do you notice how this is the past?
We saw this earlier as well, that we sometimes
are a little bit more fluid in tenses when we’re
being extra polite, but it is no problem to say,
“I’m picking up a pickup order.” In the present
tense. “I am picking up an order.” Or “I’m
here to pick up a pickup order.” No problem.
There’s a couple of different expressions we
can use. And that’s just the one that I chose.
I’m not sure it’s the same for your country
nowadays, but in the U.S., we are still required
or suggested to wear a mask in face-to-face
conversations that are close together,
especially in these kind of public situations like
restaurants and stores, these types of things. So,
for her, she, probably a little bit uncomfortable,
she needs to wear her mask during her whole work
day. But for me, only when I’m interacting with
the customer, is this type of thing… Or with
the employee, is this type of thing necessary. I’m
curious what it’s like in your country right now.
Let me know in the comments, what that’s like. All
right. Let’s watch that clip one more time. I want
you to listen carefully for my wonderful phrase,
and then we’re going to watch the next clip.
Hey, so sorry.
Waitress: No, you’re fine.
Vanessa: I was coming to pick up a pickup order.
Waitress: Okay. What was the name?
Vanessa: Vanessa.
Waitress: Vanessa. Okay,
I’ll go see if that’s ready.
Vanessa: Thank you.
Waitress: The total is going to be 65.27.
Vanessa:
Okay. I have my… It’s a gift certificate
that someone gave me, and my card.
Waitress: All right. I’ll be right back.
Vanessa: Thanks so much.
Did you notice that she told me the total for
my order, but she didn’t use the word “dollar”?
She said “That’s going to be 65.27.” This is a lot
more than I normally spend at a restaurant, maybe
double the amount that I normally
spend, but I had a gift certificate.
So, I felt like it was okay to splurge a it.
Usually eating out at a local restaurant is not
that expensive. At least in my city. If you come
to visit a small town in the U.S., don’t worry,
it’s usually not that expensive, but I thought
that it would be a fun time to splurge a bit.
So, I want you to know that when she was telling
me the amount of money, she didn’t say “dollar”,
she only said the number, 65.27. If you’d
like to practice some big numbers in English,
like hotel numbers, phone numbers, dates,
these types of things. I made a whole video,
just specifically for how to say big numbers in
English. It can be a little bit complex. We have
a lot of different expressions for this. So, you
can check out that lesson up here if you want to
dive deeper into it. All right. Let’s watch that
clip one more time and then go onto the next one.
Waitress: The total is going to be 65.27.
Vanessa:
Okay. I have my… it’s a gift certificate
that someone gave me, and my card.
Waitress: All right. I’ll be right back.
Vanessa: Thanks so much.
Waitress: All right, and if
you could sign these for us.
Vanessa: Yes. Do you guys have a lot of
people come in to do pickup like this?
Waitress: Yeah.
Vanessa: That’s awesome.
Do you know why I asked her, “Do you have people
coming in for pickup orders like this often?”
Why did I ask her that? It’s not necessary,
but sometimes I kind of like to have a little
small talk at a grocery store or at a restaurant,
because I’m curious about what their experience
is like. So, if I’m at the grocery store, I might
ask. “Yeah. Have you guys been really busy today?”
Or just some kind of question to ask about them.
Maybe it’s not appreciated by them. Maybe it is.
I don’t know, but it’s just something interesting
for me. But I want to talk about one expression
that we used here so that you can use it too.
She said, “If you could sign these for us.”
If you could, this is extremely polite. We
often use the full expression. “If you could
sign these for us, it would be great.”
“It would be great.” Is used at the end,
make sure that you use “would”. “It would be
great.” This is using a, if, type of sentence.
“If you could sign these, that would be great.”
But she cut off that end part. It is implied
or understood. I knew what she meant. That’s
perfectly fine. It’s very normal to do that. But
at the beginning, she’s asking me to do something.
Do you know what she’s asking me to sign?
This is the receipt. She’s asking me to sign
it because I used my debit card, but also
I needed to write a tip on the receipt.
And there’s a spot on the receipt. It says,
“The total”, and then underneath that, there’s
a line that says, “Tip”, and then beyond that,
it says, “Total”. So, you have to do a little
math, but usually in the U.S., it is common,
even for pickup orders where there’s not
a normal server, to give 20% for a tip.
So, the easiest way to do this is to take
the first number. So, for in my case, that’s
6 and to double it, which is 12. And because
it was 65, I could add an extra dollar. So,
I could give her a $13 tip, or you can
give more if you want to be extra generous.
Or if the service is not too good, you can
give less, but 20% is expected. This is a…
Kind of an annoying custom in the U.S. because
all of a sudden your bill gets a lot higher,
but it is necessary. And it’s pretty rude,
extremely rude, if you don’t give a tip.
In fact, for this server, my tip is the only
money that she’s going to make. The restaurant
doesn’t really pay her. I think they pay her like
$2 an hour. It just covers some basic fees, but it
doesn’t really go to her, kind of, tax money.
But my money, your tip money, is the money,
the only salary that the server will make. This
is very different from other countries. So,
keep this in mind, as you are tipping your server.
For me, I’ve been a server for a part-time job,
many times in high school and in college.
So, I know that tips are very important
for servers. And if I can be extra generous
for a tip, I always try to do this.
That’s just something that’s appreciated. So,
I wrote the tip amount. Then I did some math
to see how much it would cost in total, and I
gave it back to her. A quick note about a gift
certificate. If you have a gift certificate or
a gift card, for me, my total was $67 and I had
a $50 gift card, but I gave a 20% tip based on the
total amount, not based on the amount that I paid.
So, I gave a 20% tip from $67. Not from the
amount that I paid. This is important because
there’s some complicated stuff that goes on in
the restaurant where you should… In the end,
you should give a 20% tip based on the total
amount. Even if you have a gift card, even if
you have a coupon, gift certificate, any of this,
based on the total amount. All right, let’s go
on to our final clip. We’re going to watch that
clip one more time, then go on to our final clip.
Take a deep breath. Let’s watch.
Waitress: All
right, and if you could sign these for us.
Vanessa: Yes. Do you guys have a lot of people
come in to do pick up like this?
Waitress: Yeah.
Vanessa: That’s awesome.
Cool.
And I don’t need that back, I
have to give that to you guys.
Waitress: Yeah. All right. Here you are. Sorry.
Vanessa: Great. Thanks so much.
Waitress: Thank you.
Vanessa:
In this clip, she said, “Here you are.” Is she
saying, I am in the car? “Here you are, in the
car.” No, instead, this is common when you hand
someone something from a store, from a restaurant,
these type of situations. She could also have
said, “Here you go.” They both mean exactly the
same thing. “Here you go.”, “Here you are.” If you
go to a store and the cashier gives you a bag that
has your dress, that you just purchased in it, the
cashier might say, “Here you go, have a nice day.”
They’re just handing you the bag, that’s a common
expression for giving someone something. Here
you go. Here you are. All right, let’s watch that
clip. One final time. Are you ready? Let’s do it.
And I don’t need that back, I
have to give that to you guys.
Waitress: Yeah. All right. Here you are. Sorry.
Vanessa: Great. Thanks so much.
Waitress: Thank you.
Vanessa: Thanks so much for
joining me as I ordered food on the phone and
picked it up. I hope that you learned a lot of
useful daily expressions in this lesson. And
now I have a question for you. In the comments,
let me know. How often do you eat in a
restaurant? Or you can use the phrasal verb,
how often do you eat out? Let me know in the
comments and thank you so much for learning
English with me. I’ll see you again next Friday
for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye. And now my family is enjoying our food as
a little picnic on our back deck. It was so nice
to not cook, to not clean up dishes, and to just
be able to enjoy this special meal as a family.
The next step is to download my free ebook, 5
Steps To Becoming A Confident English Speaker.
You’ll learn what you need to do
to speak confidently and fluently.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel
for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.