Day 108: First Week at the Water Department
At the water department in Pachuca, Laura (A), head of the complaints office, shows her new colleague Juliana (B) how to handle angry calls about the tandeo, the schedule that decides when each neighborhood gets water.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a Spanish word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Spanish, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Primera regla, Juliana: aunque te griten, no cuelgues. Quien llama lleva días sin agua y necesita desahogarse.
First rule, Juliana: even if they shout at you, don't hang up. Whoever's calling has gone days without water and needs to blow off steam.
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B
¿Y si preguntan cuándo les llega? Ayer una señora me pidió que le jurara que el jueves tendría agua.
And what if they ask when it's coming? Yesterday a lady asked me to swear to her that she'd have water on Thursday.
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A
Jamás jures nada. El director nos dijo que no prometiéramos fechas: el suministro depende de que no se descomponga ninguna bomba.
Never swear to anything. The director told us not to promise dates: the supply depends on none of the pumps breaking down.
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B
¿Y las pipas? Un vecino me contó que había pedido una tres veces, y nada.
What about the water trucks? A resident told me he'd asked for one three times, and still nothing.
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A
Seguramente tiene razón: hay colonias donde el tandeo nunca se cumple. Aunque al director no le guste, eso se reconoce.
He's probably right: there are neighborhoods where the schedule is never followed. Even if the director doesn't like it, that's something you admit.
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B
¿Reconocerlo? En la capacitación nos dijeron que siempre defendiéramos a la institución.
Admit it? In the training they told us always to defend the institution.
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A
Defenderla no es negar lo obvio. Aunque no puedas mandar agua, puedes atender bien la queja.
Defending it doesn't mean denying the obvious. Even if you can't send water, you can handle the complaint properly.
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B
Oiga, ¿y cómo aprendió usted a aguantar tantos gritos? Yo llevo tres días y ya estoy de nervios.
Tell me, how did you learn to put up with so much shouting? I've been here three days and I'm already a nervous wreck.
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A
Del otro lado: hace años, la vecina más gritona era yo. El director de entonces dijo que me prefería de este lado.
On the other side of the line: years ago, the loudest resident around was me. The director back then said he'd rather have me on this side.
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