Day 149 of 160

Day 149: A Waiter on the Record

At a restaurant in Coyoacán, in Mexico City, Érika (A), a freelance reporter writing a feature on tips and wages, asks Ciro (B), the young waiter serving her, whether she can interview him.

How to study this lesson 3 steps
  1. Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. A

    Joven, estoy haciendo un reportaje sobre propinas y salarios en restaurantes. ¿Me permitiría entrevistarlo cuando tenga un momento?

    Excuse me, I'm doing a feature on tips and wages in restaurants. Would you let me interview you when you have a moment?

  2. B

    Con gusto, señorita, siempre y cuando mi nombre no aparezca. Llevo tres años trabajando aquí y no quiero represalias.

    Happy to, miss, as long as my name doesn't appear. I've been working here for three years and I don't want any reprisals.

  3. A

    Descuide, su anonimato está garantizado. ¿Cuánto de lo que gana viene del sueldo y cuánto de las propinas?

    Don't worry, your anonymity is guaranteed. How much of what you earn comes from your wages and how much from tips?

  4. B

    El sueldo es el mínimo; lo que me mantiene son las propinas, y entre semana a veces no saco ni doscientos pesos.

    The wage is the minimum; what keeps me going is the tips, and on weekdays I sometimes don't even make two hundred pesos.

  5. A

    O sea que el hecho de que un cliente deje propina o no decide si usted llega a la quincena.

    So whether or not a customer leaves a tip decides whether you make it to payday.

  6. B

    Eso no es nada: aquí nos descuentan hasta los platos rotos. Y desde la llegada del nuevo gerente, las jornadas son de doce horas.

    That's nothing: here they even dock the broken plates from our pay. And since the new manager arrived, our shifts have been twelve hours long.

  7. A

    ¿Doce horas? ¿Y cuántos meses llevan trabajando así sin que les paguen las horas extra?

    Twelve hours? And how many months have you been working like that without being paid overtime?

  8. B

    Desde enero. Oiga, pensándolo bien, no ponga lo de los tres años: aquí el único que lleva tanto tiempo aguantando soy yo.

    Since January. Listen, on second thought, leave out the bit about the three years: I'm the only one here who's put up with it for that long.

Your progress is saved in this browser only, with no sign-up. The course page and the menu show where you left off. Well done! Next up: Day 150: Dad's Memories of the 1985 Earthquake 

If this free course has helped you in your Spanish journey, please consider supporting the project. It's a one-person effort, and even small contributions help keep it running and free for everyone.