Ok everyone so today I was at the supermarket and I got myself a bag full of plumbs and everything was fine and dandy but when I went to pay for them the saleswoman became infuriated and barked something at me in Czech and then went back to the fruit stand and I think she returned some of the fruit but I'm not sure because I never taught to count.. Or maybe I forgot to put a sticker on the bag.. or something.. i have no idea.. are there stickers for the bags? I don't see any, but when I got the bag home it had a sticker on it and I don't know if that was teh cause of the problem or what.. At home you buy fruit.. you put it in a bag, you give it to the person working there... she weighs it, presses the button for the appropriate fruit, and the computer works out the price.. I'm not complaining I'm just putting it in perspective so you guys can understand why I was confused... So what did I do wrong? Also she seemed annoyed about the rolls? (other than this i am getting on really well in the Czech republic, the job is great, I love it here, the people are lovely, I already have a friend who I'm on ty terms (the few times I manage to say something in Czech) with and.. well it's great
There are electronic scales in fruits/vegetables department, you are supposed to weight your fruits - place bag on scales and press button with image of relevant fruit/vegetable. Then sticker with price and barcode will fall out from machine and you have to stick it on your bag. In this case I'm not sure why
Ha ha ha oh dear no wonder everyone was so angry. I think she just wanted me to tell her how many rolls there were.. I heard something like devet at some point.. Anyway thanks for the heads up... I'll know in future.. and maybe I'll avoid Bille for a few weeks...
There is no justification for angriness on their side. They should be here for customers. Unfortunately it still doesn't work very well in CR. When I visited Hungary, all saleswomen in supermarkets were nice and smiling, even though I didn't know the language.
ah I don't mind grumpiness with things like that, the people who I needed to be friendly were the ones working in the pharmacy when I was trying to mime the various symptoms of my cold.. and they were! Oh I should ask.. which is the proper sorry to use in a situation like this.. Prominite?
Too bad about your unfortunate supermarket blunders. Having been in Europe before, I knew I had to weigh them myself most places, but it had been two years since I've been on this side of the ocean, and I forgot to weigh my bananas at Billa the first time I shopped for groceries. As soon as the checkout woman looked at them, and then at me with a look of (thankfully only minor) annoyance, I inwardly cringed and wanted to hit myself in the forehead for having forgotten. She was friendly about it, but she set my bananas to the side, so I remained fruitless (literally), even after my shopping trip. I'd say though, perhaps one positive thing about your vivid experience, is I don't think you'll be forgetting in the future! :lol:
"Promiňte (omlouvám se), už to vickrát neudělám" works great. Nobody can stay angry after hearing such childish excuse. Beside her bad behavior, the result was better than that one of Ktot - you did not ended plumbless. Also with rolls - I think you bought 10 not 9 rolls like she thought.
Thanks for another good example of the extraneous use of už :? I presume we would say "Sorry, I won't do it again." ie the už has no meaning in English! Could you just say "Omlouvám se, to vickrát neudělám?" ie is it just that the už makes it sound more Czech but it's not actually wrong without it? And I find that "Promiňte, jsem hloupá Angličanka" works quite well!
"Už to vickrát neudělám" we can translate it as: "I will do it no more again.", but I worry no more + again in one sentence will sound odd to you. "víckrát to neudělám" vs "už to vickrát neudělám" - the už means here that "I learned my lesson and from now on" I will never do it again. Without už it is more like statement/announcement - ?"I will not do it anymore"? "no childish" exuses (very formal): "už se to víckrát nestane"or "už se to nebude opakovat" "Promiňte, jsem jen hloupá Angličanka" should work even better. Unfortunately it is of no use for me. :?
I actually found my first gratutiously rude shop assistant yesterday, in a trafika. It was the first time I'd wasn't greeted with a 'dobrý den' as I walked in, which should have been a warning. I remembered that she hadn't been particularly friendly the last time I had been in the shop but I said 'dobrý den' anyway and I carefully took a newspaper from her display on the counter, offering her the right money. Before she took it, she tutted loudly and made a big show of re-aligning the papers the 5cm that I had left them out of line. I'm afraid I just turned round and walked out, leaving the paper on the counter. "Promiňte, jsem jen hloupá Angličanka" said sarcastically, rather than apologetically, would have been perfect! :wink:
Hee hee Promiňte, jsem jen hloupá Irka... I'll remember that! My friends have already had to use something similar whenever we are out, I always do something that causes them to have to explain .. she's Irish you see... I'll never forget už now because of Pavla with her niece Zuzi at the traffic lights... UŽ ne... UŽ!?... ne..... UŽ!!! JO!!!! I find in general here it's best to act the same way as I do at home when people are rude to me.. smile at them warmly as if they were a little child.. it's quite disconcerting.
"OK, OK, I won't do it again." - It sounds like you do not really mean it. Maybe the british??? "Horrible sorry! I will never do it again" is closer to it. The "už" is more about time (from moment onward) and also it intensify the sentence. Like in the example of 4 koruny: už můžu (přejít)? -> Ješte ne už ?-> Stále ne a teď -> už jo! "můžu přejít ulici" vs "už můžu přejít ulici" is roughly "is it possible to ...." vs "Is it (from) now possible" another example "Další pivo?" - > "Už ne (stačilo mi)" another beer - > No more (I had enough) also sound odd in English last example: "mohu jít domů?" vs "už mohu jít domů" or very intense "mohu jít konečně domů" If they will be keeping you in work overtime and you will think the work is done then you would ask "už mohu jít domů". If they still keep you there and you start losing nerves -> "mohu jít konečně domů". --------------------- I allways let them to take newspaper for me. That lady in trafika was rude, you tried to help her by taking it yourself and she reacted like ... Worry if you said the phrase she will not get it. -------------------- If someone is rude to me or not cooperating I do not smile on him/her. I use another trick, I make surprised face and ask something like "Oč jde", "V čem je problém" and let him voice it. Then can come smile with my solution how to solve his/her problem. :wink:
