[ SCRIPT ]
Your question, do servers look at my wife in restaurants when I'm the one ordering? Good question. Yes, all the time! And I know this has been done on YouTube before, and many, many, many people have probably talked about this, but yes, it happens all the time.
We'll be sitting there and I'll be ordering food, and then they'll look at my wife, and she'll need to repeat it. It's like, um, me, me, look I'm talking. I'm talking. Me, me, me! And, then it makes me feel as though, maybe I wasn't speaking Japanese. But no, I was. I was speaking Japanese. And I was probably speaking pretty good Japanese. But, maybe they just don't expect to hear Japanese. I don't know.
While that's kind of annoying sometimes. Like am I speaking Japanese? Was it ok? Why are they looking at her but I'm the one talking? And, then they like repeat the order to her, just I like I said it. And, it's just, there's just no communication between us, yeah. But, I'm gonna tell ya what gets my goat even more. You ready? Ok. As a foreigner, sometimes I say thinks incorrect. For example, I sometimes say "mizu". Right, ok, well that's "water". But, if I say "mizu" instead of "mizu", why do I get looked at like, like they have no clue what I'm talking about.
Ok, here's another. Two words for change, regarding money. One, ryougae, change this for me, right. The other otsuri, give me my change. Alright, so here I am, white dude, in Japan, in a restaraunt. I have a 1000 yen note and I need ten 100 yen coins, for the Gatcha machines. And I come up to the counter, I say otsuri please, otsuri, otsuri. And they look at me like "I don't know what'cha mean". Well, I have no bill, so I'm not looking for my change. I have a bill and I want you to change it. How hard is that to, how hard is that? How hard is that? It doesn't seem hard. It boggles my mind more than the talking to my wife when I'm ordering thing. So there you have it. You got two for the price of one. Yayyy!
Speaking of restaurants, what I've come to really love about Japan, really appreciate, is that regardless of where you go, what restaurant it is, you get free tea. You get oolong tea, or, or brown rice tea, or green tea. I never used to be a tea drinker. I mean, obviously coffee. Coffee, coffee, coffee! But, since I've come to Japan I've become a tea drinker. Go figure. So, Mason, my question this week is, since coming to Japan have you become a tea drinker? Alright bud, see ya next week. Peace!
Vocabulary Match
Annoying / Server / Appreciate / Obviously / Clue1. ___________= a fact or idea that serves to reveal something.
2. ___________= causing irritation.
3. ___________ = a waiter or waitress.
4. ___________ = be grateful for something.
5. ___________ = in a way that is easily perceived or understood.
Questions [comprehension]
1. What does Stephen think when servers don't respond to him directly? 2. What confuses Stephen more than servers talking to his wife instead of him?
Discussion [conversation starters]
1. Have you ever experienced a miscommunication when traveling abroad? 2. Do you like getting complimentary tea in restaurants? 3. Is it easy to understand what people are trying to say even if they use the wrong word?
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