PARTIE 2 · LEÇON 16 SUR 30 · 32 MINUTES

The Complaint

Friday the fifteenth of December, twenty twenty-eight, nine in the morning, the seventh floor in Osaka. The Tsukiya phones Mister Okada, not Ben, and Mister Okada passes the receiver across his desk without a word. Four of the group came back at eleven last night, loud in the corridor, Mister Doyle got into the bath with his towel, and two other guests have complained. A formal apology on the phone, a box of sweets from the boss's drawer, and at eleven the Tsukiya's doorway, the deepest bow of Ben's life, and a hostess who forgives the Kyoto way. Two o'clock, Miss Nishimura and a letter of apology, on paper. Saturday, Kansai airport, and an envelope refused three times. Learn to take the blame for your side (watakushi domo no fuchuui deshita), say you'll come at once to apologise (sugu ni, owabi ni ukagaimasu), promise it won't happen again (nido to kono you na koto ga nai you ni, ki o tsukemasu), write the line of a letter of apology (kokoro yori, owabi moushiagemasu), hear why a complaint with a next time is a good one, and refuse a tip politely, humbly and finally (chippu wa, itadakemasen; okoshi itadaita koto ga, naniyori no orei desu). The sixteenth lesson of Advanced Level 1.

Langue des explications audio : anglais