📙 Part 2: Describe an occasion when you got incorrect information

This episode's vocabulary

To match up (phrasal verb) - if two pieces of information match up, they are the same.

Concern (noun) - a worried or nervous feeling about something, or something that makes you feel worried.

Frustrating (adj.) - making you feel annoyed or less confident because you cannot achieve what you want

Prompt (adj.) - (of an action) done quickly and without delay, or (of a person) acting quickly or arriving at the arranged time.

Resolution (noun) - the act of solving or ending a problem or difficulty.

Inefficient (adj.) - not organized, skilled, or able to work in a satisfactory way.

Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you ready? Rory story.

R: Yes.

M: Off you go.

R: Well, the time that sticks out the most in my mind right now is when I received a letter from a company called Network Rail a few weeks ago. And in that letter, there were details about upcoming works on the railway close to my house. And this arrived in the post, obviously, since it was a letter. And on reading it, I was looking at the section on the dates and when I was looking at the dates more closely and putting them into my diary, I discovered that they didn't actually match up with the days, the actual days. So it was confusing whether they had mixed up the dates, or the actual days, because it was happening over a three-day period. And I think maybe they just hadn't updated their calendar or something like that. Like I say, it's it's unclear because I didn't work for the company. And obviously, this is a bit of a problem, because where the real works were supposed to be happening is where I like to go for a walk. So if I wasn't going to be able to access this place, then there would be no point on me going there. Not to mention, you know, it's loud, when things like that happen and that could affect my work, my house is very close to the railway. So all of this is extremely important for me, or why it's extremely important for me. And I emailed them to express my concerns, and they were taking forever to get back to me. So it was actually quite frustrating. So frustrating, in fact, that I posted about it on social media, and I got a much more prompt response. But regardless of the speed of the response, it was more just to an acknowledgement than the actual resolution to the problem. So I still wasn't particularly satisfied. Even when I got the correct information, I was just thinking, or I was just feeling frustrated about how unbelievably inefficient they were. So yeah, overall, not a great experience in terms of getting the incorrect information, even though we did find a solution.

M: And do you often get incorrect information?

R: No. And it was really strange to get it from such a large company as well.

Discussion

M: So describe an occasion when you got incorrect information, dear listener. So what do we mean by incorrect information? Rory, what can we talk about here?

R: Well, when do people usually get incorrect information? I mean, because it rarely happens to me. Maybe if you're living in a place similar to where I used to live in Russia, the bus times used to be posted, and then the buses would arrive at totally different times. Does that count as getting incorrect information? So bus times can be wrong. What else could be wrong? Train times as well, if the trains are not arriving as scheduled, and that can disrupt your plans.

M: Yeah. Or maybe they tell you that they can give you a refund in a shop. But when you want to get a refund, you can't do this. Right? So the dates could be wrong, something wrong in the shop or maybe some incorrect information in a restaurant about the booking. So you booked a table and then you went to the restaurant. It's just not there. So yeah, dear listener, something like that. Rory told us about a situation he had with this train company about the dates. Yeah? So they got the dates wrong. And the story should be in the past. So you needed this information. So you asked for this information, you got it, it was incorrect. And then your feelings. So yeah, pretty much... Well, could be negative, yeah? Because usually we don't really like it, when something is incorrect. So you got this letter, right? So was it an email from the train company that you got?

R: No, no, it was a letter, like a proper paper letter in the post.

M: Like, like, seriously? Like, like a letter?

R: Yes.

M: No, because who gets letters these days? Like really? Usually like people get emails but it's a freaking letter.

R: It's a small country.

M: Then it arrived in the post, meaning that Rory received an actual letter. And then you used a very nice structure. On reading it. Like on reading the letter. On reading it I looked at the dates. So what did you mean by this? Like on reading? What is this? On reading.

R: That's just when I read the letter. On reading the letter, I realized.

M: On receiving the letter, I found out. Like on getting this information, I thought that. And the information didn't match up with the dates. So there was a mistake with the dates. Yeah? The days like the first of June, the second of June, so it didn't match up. So something was unclear. And then what Rory did, you wrote to the train company.

R: Yeah, well, we emailed them. And now I think about it, we called them as well.

M: So to make sure that you have the correct information, to double check, and they took ages to respond.

R: Yeah.

M: So I didn't get a prompt response. So it took them ages to come back to me to reply with the resolution to the problem. So we say resolve the problem, or find a resolution to the problem. So eventually, they came back to you, right? So they, they what, they called you? Or they sent an email? Or what, what happened?

R: Well, they got back to us by, yeah, by email. I had to hand over my email address eventually, because they wouldn't answer on social media. It was such a palaver, honestly. I don't understand why they couldn't reply that way.

M: If our listener talks about something else, what else could be the problem with incorrect information?

R: Well, the dates could be inaccurate, the times could be inaccurate. The... Well, one of the details could be inaccurate, the time, the date, the place, who is going to be there. It could even be something like a party that your friend has planned out. Something like this.

M: Yeah, maybe the address was inaccurate. You know?

R: Yeah.

M: June, July. People mix up June, July. Maybe the party was meant to be in July, but you thought it's in June.

R: Sometimes prices are incorrect.

M: Hmm. Yeah, the price. Yeah, there's one price online. And then when you go and buy it, there is another price. Surprise, surprise.

R: Yeah. Especially in some countries where there's high inflation.

M: Rory was putting it down in his calendar. So I put it down in my calendar. But it turned out to be wrong.

R: Yes, because the dates in the calendar are obviously fixed. So if you look at it, and you see like one thing, so let's say I think it was the 26th of April, and it was marked down as Wednesday. But actually the 26th of April is Thursday. So I was thinking which dates are you using?

M: And about your feelings, you said that I was frustrated about the whole thing. So it really annoyed me.

R: Yeah. It was a bit disappointing, to be honest. It's not a huge problem. But if it's a company that's funded by taxpayers' money, then I expect a better level of service than that.

M: You can say I expect a better service than that, right? What else about the feelings? Like if you get some incorrect information.

R: Frustrated, embarrassed, mortified.

M: I was mortified. Like, afraid.

R: So embarrassed you might die. Yeah, but usually it's about like, I was annoyed.

R: Yeah.

M: I was really annoyed. Or I was angry.

R: Can we say angry?

M: I was furious. Yeah, like very angry. I was furious. Yeah, I was enraged. If you were really furious. Like... This anger coming out of you. So I was enraged. So it was an unacceptable situation. And I got really annoyed. If we use the third conditional. So we imagine that this situation never happened. So if this hadn't happened, what could you say?

R: Well, if this hadn't happened, I would have had a clearer idea of what on earth was going on. Or I would have had a clearer picture of the situation.

M: If this hadn't happened. Hadn't happened. The third conditional. I would have had...

R: A better time.

M: Yeah, I would have had a better time.

R: I wouldn't have been so embarrassed.

M: I wouldn't have been so angry. Yeah. Or I would have known what to do.

R: Yeah.

M: Sweet. What helped you to organize this answer?

R: Prompt, really. All I did was just follow the order as it was laid out. So I said why I needed it. And how I got it. I said it arrived in the post. How I found out it was incorrect. When we were putting it down or putting it in the diary. We saw the dates didn't match up and how I felt about it. Very disappointed, very frustrated. And then I just rounded it out by saying so yeah, not a great experience overall. No special conditional ending for this one.

M: Sweet. So dear listener, thank you very much for listening! We'll get back to you in speaking part three about information in general. Okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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