Describe a Service Flashcards
lousy
lousy service
poor quality; bad; not very good
* That’s a lousy movie. I saw it last week and I’m sure you won’t like it
five-star treatment –
very good customer service that makes one feel like a very
important person
* Our hotel is the best in the city, always giving five-star treatment to all our
guests.
I didn’t expect five-star treatment, but I do expect service industry
employees to at least be civil.
service industry
the businesses and people who work by providing services to
other people
Hotels and restaurants are both part of the service industry. So, Buck is saying
here that he expects people (employees who work in the service industries) to be
at least civil or to at least be civil. “Civil” means polite, formal, not necessarily
friendly.
* Hair salons, restaurants, and hotels are all examples of businesses in the
service industry.
I didn’t expect five-star treatment, but I do expect service industry
employees to at least be civil.
civil
polite and formal but not friendly
* Even though we don’t like our neighbor, we need to be civil to her.
I didn’t expect five-star treatment, but I do expect service industry
employees to at least be civil.
counter
a long, flat surface like a table where the customer stands on one side
and the employee stands on the other side and where things are bought and sold
* Jarrod put the milk and eggs on the counter and waited for the cashier to tell
him how much they would cost.
to be waited on
to be served by an employee; to have an employee ask what
one wants to buy and bring that thing to oneself
* At the restaurant last night, we were waited on by a young waiter with pink hair.
couldn’t have cared less
a phrase used to show that something is extremely
unimportant to oneself, less important than anything else
* I thought the professor would be mad that I was coming late to class, but he
couldn’t have cared less.
to acknowledge (someone)
to recognize that someone is there, looking into
one’s eyes and/or saying hello, even if one does not have time to speak with or
help that person
* The secretary was on the phone when I walked into the office, but he
acknowledged me by looking up and smiling
dirty look
scowl; a way of moving one’s eyes, nose, and mouth to change
one’s facial expression and show that one is angry or not pleased about
something
* The librarian gave us a dirty look when we were making too much noise in the
quiet library
The employee gave him a dirty look.
If you walk into a library and you are talking loudly or laughing,
the people working there (the librarians) may give you a dirty look. I do this all
the time when I’m in a restaurant and someone starts yelling on their cell phone
(their mobile phone) in the table next to me. I turn and I give them a dirty look,
because, of course, it’s not polite to have your telephone conversation in
someone else’s ear. You should step outside the restaurant and continue your
phone call. Well, that’s the way it should work, but this is Los Angeles and it
doesn’t work that way very often.
practically
almost; virtually; nearly
* We practically had to sell everything we owned to have enough money to pay
for food last month.
chutzpah
nerve; the courage or confidence to do something that other people
probably wouldn’t do, usually because they would be scared to do it
* You showed a lot of chutzpah when you told that man to stop smoking on the
bus.
*She practically threw it at me!”
Practically,” here, means almost,
virtually, nearly. “Practically” can mean in a practical way, but here, when
someone says “she practically kicked me,” or, “he practically killed me,” you
mean they almost, nearly but not quite. So, when the employee practically threw
the coffee at Buck, she didn’t actually throw it but it was something like that.
Chutzpah can
be a good thing; some people, in some circumstances, may make it a bad thing,
doing that something that someone else doesn’t want or would not do. So, “She
had the chutzpah to say that I made a mistake in telling her my order. Not only
did she not take responsibility for her mistake, she tried to tell me it was my fault!”
To “take responsibility” for something means to agree that something is your
fault, to accept the consequences of your actions: “Yes, I made a mistake.”
to take responsibility for (something)
to agree that something was one’s
own fault and accept the consequences (the things that happen as a result)
* I drove too quickly and now I need to take responsibility for it by paying for the
ticket that the police gave me.
infuriating
something that makes one very angry and upset; very annoying
* That woman is so infuriating! I hate listening to her give her opinions.
, “That’s really infuriating.” Something that is “infuriating”
makes you very angry or mad.
to complain
to say that one is unhappy about something and wants it to be
changed
* The new camera we bought on the Internet didn’t work, so we called the store
to complain.
to overreact
to react to something too strongly; to act like something is more
important than it really is
* When Chrissy got 70% on her math test, her parents overreacted, telling her
that she couldn’t go out with her friends for four months and making her study
math for two hours every afternoon
