📙 Part 2: Describe a time when you answered a phone call from someone you didn't know in a public place

You should say: where it happened, what he/she said, how you corresponded, and explain how you felt about the experience.

This episode's vocabulary

Recurring (adj.) - happening many times, or happening again.

Nuisance (noun) - something or someone that annoys you or causes trouble for you.

To pester (verb) - to behave in an annoying manner towards someone by doing or asking for something repeatedly.

Urgent (adj.) - very important and needing immediate attention.

To confess (verb) - admit that one has committed a crime or done something wrong.

To interrupt (verb) - stop the continuous progress of (an activity or process).

To bother (verb) - to make the effort to do something.

To badger (verb) - to persuade someone by telling them repeatedly to do something, or to question someone repeatedly.

Questions and Answers

R: To be honest, this is a recurring problem I have where I keep getting nuisance calls from the marketing department of my internet service provider. They keep pestering me to make sure I'm getting the best deal for my internet connection. And since I pay so little for it, I clearly am. So I have no idea why they keep asking me. I also make sure to tell them that every time, and I'm not interested in such calls. But nevertheless, it just keeps on happening. On one particular occasion, I was having lunch with one of my friends in a cafe, and they called, and I always answer voice calls in case it's urgent, so I had to stop talking and take the call. And then I got the usual, hello, it's Craig calling from your internet service provider. We're just checking. Blah, blah, blah. And the person always seems to be called Craig for some reason. So you would think that he would have gotten the message by now. But regardless, there I was talking to what must have been the same person, or at least what seemed like the same person. I have to confess, I wasn't polite about it, since this was about the 50th time they'd called, and I explained it rather directly that I had spoken to the same department so many times and I wasn't interested, and now they were actually interrupting me while I was with a friend. And while I know, and, well, I knew at the time, and I know now that it's not that person's fault. I did stress that I didn't want to be bothered again, or I would be making a complaint directly. And then I hung up and got back to talking. When it comes to my feelings about the whole thing, well, I wasn't too put out by it, I was a bit annoyed at having to repeat myself. I doubt anyone likes having to do that. However, I did get at least a little bit of satisfaction after the fact, because I don't think they've bothered me again since now, I'd think about it. And maybe if I hadn't done that in that way, or at least if I hadn't done it in the way that I had, maybe they'd still be badgering me to this day.

M: And what about your friends? Do they get the same calls?

R: I couldn't tell you. I don't know if they have the same service providers as I do.

Discussion

M: Hey! What a story! Did you recognize yourself, dear listener? Is it the same with you? It's totally the same with me. I block numbers. So Rory, you know, there's this block, this number option in your phone. Yeah, might be useful, but they call from different numbers. So...

R: It might be, yeah. I think I might have to start doing that.

M: Yeah. Every time I have such a call, I just put them on block, but they call from a different number. So you can tell such a story, right? And the task says in a public place, so it does not mean that you used a public phone. Okay? Just like, could be a phone call and you used your own phone and talked to some random person. But Rory, do people still use these public phones? Do they exist, really? Like in in Scotland.

R: They do exist. There's a red phone box at the bottom of my street. It's like the most British thing I've ever seen.

M: Does it work?

R: I don't know. I haven't tried.

M: Because these red phone booths, they're kind of like a symbol of the UK, right? But can you use the phone? You pay with your card, you buy a special phone.

R: I don't think you pay with your card, I think you pay with change or coins?

M: Really? Coins? Wow.

R: Or you're supposed to.

M: Dear listener, do you have public phones in your country? Because, you know, I haven't seen a public phone for a long time.

R: I'm trying to think if I ever saw any in Russia. No. Such an enlightened country.

M: You can start off with, to be honest, this is a recurring problem. So this problem happens again and again. Like this happens all the time. Recurring, it occurs many times. I keep getting calls. To get a call from somebody. I keep getting, I get these calls all the time, and Rory called them nuisance calls. What does it mean?

R: A nuisance call is just a call that's irritating.

M: Like annoying calls. I keep getting all these annoying calls from my bank, from the marketing department, from my internet service provider. And usually, these calls are from banks, internet providers, connection... What do you call it? Like phone... Your phone connection provider.

R: I don't know what a phone connection provider is, but an internet provider is called an Internet service provider.

M: And maybe from some, I don't know, medical workers, some medical centres or schools. They keep pestering me. So they call me and they pester me. Pester? Annoy me. They behave in an annoying way. They ask me to buy their products. So they keep pestering me to buy their services. They pester me. They annoy me. Well, they keep pestering me to get the best deal. Yeah? Or to get a loan, to get their services. I tell them every time I'm not interested, but they keep on calling me. It keeps on happening. So these calls keep on happening. They continue to happen. And then you can tell the examiner about one particular occasion. On one particular occasion, I was having lunch, or I was reading a book, I was walking in the park, so in a public place, yeah? I was having lunch with my friend in a cafe, or I was walking in the park, or I was travelling to work when I had a call. So I took the call.

R: And you would definitely take a call.

M: Yeah, I took this call. And you can say that I saw that an unknown number was calling, but I took the call. I have to confess I wasn't polite. So when you speak about something bad you've done, you can say, I have to confess like I have to tell you the truth like I wasn't polite, and very often we are not polite when such calls happen. So I have to confess I wasn't polite. This was the 50th time they had called.

R: I should say, it wasn't actually the 50th time, but it definitely felt that way.

M: Yeah. Or it was the 10th time they had called. Past Perfect. If you can't pronounce 50th, you can say maybe, like 11th time or 10th. 10th, I think, is good. This was the 10th time they had called, or they had called 10 times before. I was tired, I was angry, furious. Like... Stop it. I explained rather directly that I do not want their services. I had spoken to them so many times. You see? We have past perfect here because we say what had already happened. They were interrupting me. So such calls usually interrupt. Disturb us. So they were interrupting my work. I did stress that I didn't want their services. I did tell them, I did stress, I did say that. Like we emphasize. I told them that I didn't want to be bothered with this. So don't bother me. I don't want to be bothered.

R: Don't annoy me.

M: I told them I would make a complaint. So we make a complaint. Complaint. The verb is to complain, but a noun is a complaint. Make a complaint. So you can say, I told them that I would, in the future, I would make a complaint. And when you finish talking, what phrasal verb should you use? I...

R: Hung up.

M: Yeah. Hung up? You kind of you stopped, you pushed the button. I hung up and got back to my lunch. The final part of this monologue of your story is about your feelings, and you can start it with when it comes to my feelings about the whole thing, about this annoying call, I wasn't too put out by it.

R: Oh, if you're put out by something, it just means that you were disturbed by it or it annoyed you.

M: Could you give us another example?

R: Well, getting a lot of nuisance calls might put you out a little bit, or if one of your friends always lets you down, then that might put you out. I felt a bit put out, maybe.

M: Yeah. Like, annoyed, yeah?

R: Yeah.

M: You can say I was a bit annoyed, or I was really furious. If you were really angry, I was furious, really angry. I was enraged, enraged, super angry. I was really angry. And then I did get some satisfaction because they didn't bother me again. So bother, they didn't pester me. They didn't annoy me again after this call. Nice. And another verb is badger, to badger.

R: Yeah, but that's just to keep annoying or keep asking someone something in an annoying way.

M: For example.

R: Well, if you get these nuisance phone calls, people might be badgering you for a reply. If a friend wants you to do something, they might badger you for a while to get a response or to get you to do it.

M: Yeah, like stop badgering me, I'll write this essay when I'm ready. Right, dear listener, how are you doing? Now your job is to choose this phone call. Maybe from the bank, maybe from somebody. Yeah, and, you know, once I had a phone call from an English school, and they said, oh, hello... So the point was that they wanted me to pay for their English classes. And then I started telling them about our podcast. I say, oh, by the way, I have an offer for you. We have this IELTS Speaking for Success podcast and... So they hung up on me. Can you imagine?

R: Oh...

M: So this is a strategy, dear listener. From now on, if somebody calls you from a bank, from somebody, from, I don't know, some other place, you just sell them your things, you know, or tell them about our podcast. Or if you sell something yourself, you can just, like, sell them your thing. They usually hang up.

R: I think I might try that next time.

M: No, it's just amazing. It works so well, you know? And they just don't want to listen to you. So you should do something, you know, they don't expect you to do.

R: I think I will, unless you're listening Craig, in which case, take the hint. I don't want you to call me about my internet service provision.

M: Yeah, like, oh, yeah, why don't you... Oh, you know what? IELTS Speaking for Success podcast is the best podcast in the world. The archive, you can buy all the archives. Let me give you the link. What's your number? Let me send you the link. And then like that's it.

R: Nice.

M: Now you know what to do, dear listener, just sell them your thing. If you don't sell anything, just sell them, I don't know, your clothes you don't wear anymore.

R: Sell them our podcast. That would be great.

M: Yeah, sell them our podcast.

R: But for now, it's time for us to hang up on this.

M: Thank you very much for listening!

R: Bye!

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