/01
“Your answer starts with unfortunately.”
Policy is not an answer
She knows what the policy is. What she is asking is what you are going to do about tonight, and repeating the rule is heard as a refusal to answer.
A guest complaining, rehearsed out loud
1
person runs this conversation
8 min
The shortest conversation
Cold, polite, and entirely certain she is going to get what she asked for. Nothing in her tone will tell you how badly this is going.
C1 · advancedNative pace
What actually happens
Five things people say before they start.
One of them is usually the real reason. What sits underneath it is what actually gets scored.
/02
“You think it went fine and it did not.”
Reading a flat tone
No shouting, no obvious anger, and an escalation already in progress. Hearing that in a second language is genuinely hard and it is what this scenario drills.
/03
“You offer to see what you can do.”
Offering the thing you can offer
Something specific and within your authority, early. Vague sympathy costs you the chance to fix it.
/04
“You keep going rather than say you will get the manager.”
Escalating cleanly
Sometimes the answer is that you cannot solve it, and saying so with a named next step is a better outcome than stalling.
Not the situation you need?
Bring the real thing: the job description, the date on the letter, the words the school used. Everyone who runs a guest complaining will work from what you actually walked in with.
How a first conversation worksWho you will be talking to
A guest complaining, with 1 of these 1.
In whichever order helps. The first 5 minutes with a free partner cost nothing, so you can talk to two of them before you choose.
A guest complainingWhat it costs
One price a minute, whoever you talk to.
A harder conversation simply runs longer. The shortest way to rehearse a guest complaining is 8 min.
You pay for the seconds you talk, and the minutes come off a balance you already hold. Nothing renews, and you are never sent a bill. Plans and refunds.
C1 · advanced
15 min
is how long a conversation at this difficulty runs
A guest at the cold end who will not raise her voice and will not let it go.
- Minutes of talking in total
- 90
- What that costs here
- $40
- The same minutes with a tutor
- $300
- You do not spend
- −$260
At $50 an hour, rounded up to the 60-minute booking nobody will sell you less than.
Your first 5 minutes
What 5 free minutes are for.
01
Expect it to feel fine
Diane's whole difficulty is that she is polite. The score is usually the surprise.
The terms, in full
- Free
- 5 minutes
- No card asked for
02
Find your first unfortunately
It is in the transcript, and it is usually earlier than you would guess.
Paid for out of your free minutes
- Policy is not an answer
- Reading a flat tone
- Offering the thing you can offer
- Escalating cleanly
Questions
What people ask before they start.
Nearby
What people open next.
The rest of Everyday life first, then everything else at the same difficulty.
All the situationsThe landlady
C1 · advancedNative paceOn the phone, so there is no face to read, and she has heard this before.1 personfrom 7 minYour child's school
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedTen minutes with a teacher, and everything you did not ask is a year of their schooling.2 peoplefrom 8 minAt the clinic
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedDescribing a symptom to somebody typing, who will ask you to repeat the date.1 personfrom 7 min
C1 · advancedNative paceOn the phone, so there is no face to read, and she has heard this before.1 personfrom 7 minYour child's schoolB2 · confidentC1 · advancedTen minutes with a teacher, and everything you did not ask is a year of their schooling.2 peoplefrom 8 minAt the clinicB2 · confidentC1 · advancedDescribing a symptom to somebody typing, who will ask you to repeat the date.1 personfrom 7 min