ESL Podcast 302 - A Problem with a Restaurant Check

to get (someone's) attention - to do something so that another person pays attention to oneself; to do something to get another person to look at oneself and/or listen to what one is saying

During the football game, Rhonda got her husband's attention by standing in front of the TV so that he couldn't see it!

check - bill; a piece of paper at a restaurant that shows what one has ordered, how much each thing costs, and how much a person needs to pay

Our check for dinner was more than $120 because we ordered a very nice bottle of wine.

dessert - a sweet thing eaten after the rest of a meal

Hank's favorite dessert is chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.

to ring (something) up - to enter the cost of what someone is buying into a machine, and then take that person's money to make the sale

When the sales clerk rang up my book, she accidentally typed an extra zero, so instead of costing $10, it was $100!

mistake - error; something that is incorrect; something that is wrong

Tanya made a mistake when she decided to buy that car. It broke down the first time she drove it.

appetizer - a small amount of food eaten before the rest of a meal

This restaurant has delicious appetizers, like spinach dip and stuffed mushrooms.

to adjust - to make a small change to correct something; to make a small change to make something better

Did you adjust your watch for the time difference when you flew from New York to San Francisco?

to take (something) off - to remove something from a list

Please take my name off of the participant list because I won't be able to go to the conference after all.

two-for-one coupon - a small piece of paper that lets one receive two of something for the price of one; a small piece of paper that lets the holder pay for one thing, and get a second one for free

With this two-for-one coupon, we can go to go to Disneyland together for the price of one.

to be charged for - to be asked to pay for something; to be billed for something

Even though we returned the movie at 6:05 p.m., we were charged the late fee because we were supposed to have returned it by 6:00 p.m.

to place (one's) order - to tell a waiter or waitress what one would like to eat; to tell someone what one would like to buy

We called the Thai restaurant and placed our order over the phone so that the food would be ready when we got to the restaurant.

stated - said or written; made clear; expressed; communicated

The sign we just passed stated that we needed to turn right to go to Dollywood, but we made a mistake and turned left instead.

to be a pain - to make trouble; to make things difficult for another person

My little brother is a pain! He always comes into my room when I want to be alone.

to make an exception - to do something that one normally wouldn't do; to not follow the regular rules just once; to decide to change the way that one does something this time

Normally the professor makes all of his students take tests at the same time, but he made an exception when Shelby was sick, and let him take the test a week later.