Where you are
It is Tuesday, 3:40 in the afternoon, and you are in the back room. The machine is off, and Aníbal is at the other café. You waited half an hour for the right moment, and Saturday is in four days.
Escenario 3 · Rol A
You need Saturday covered
Informal. Same rank, same shifts, you see each other every day. You start. About 7 turns each · 7 minutes.
Your screen only. Don't show it. Don't read from it.
Tu información
It is Tuesday, 3:40 in the afternoon, and you are in the back room. The machine is off, and Aníbal is at the other café. You waited half an hour for the right moment, and Saturday is in four days.
You need someone to open on Saturday the 12th, and the message has to go to the café group today.
You lose the exam and the money you paid for it, or you lose the shift. And you work next to this person again tomorrow.
Notas, no frases
| Now | Tuesday, September 8, 3:40 p.m. |
| Saturday 12 | opening 7:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. · closing 3:00–11:00 p.m. |
| Your exam | IELTS, Saturday 12, 8:00 a.m. · exam center in Floridablanca |
| What it cost | more than a million pesos · no new date, no money back |
| Out of the exam | about 1:30 p.m. · Floridablanca to the café: 40 minutes |
| You can pay back | Friday 18 night · Saturday 19 · inventory Monday 14 |
| Off the table | money |
| The channel | the café group on WhatsApp |
Palabras para esta situación
| Word | What it is | Here |
|---|---|---|
| non-refundable | money you pay and never get back | the exam in one word · your hardest number |
| shift | the hours you work in one day | one Saturday shift · the only thing you need from them |
| inventory | the day you count everything in the store | the ugly job you can put on the table |
| the closing | the last shift of the day | the other half of Saturday the 12th |
| the opening | the first shift of the day | yours, and the one you can't be at |
| to be off | to have the day free, with no work | your free days, for when you offer them back |
| to cover a shift | to work someone else's hours | the thing you are asking for |
| to owe someone a favor | to have to do something for them later | your side of the deal, with a date on it |
| to split a shift | to cut one shift in two parts, for two people | your way out · two ways, before the yes |
| to swap | to change one thing for another one | what you put back on the table |
Ayuda común
Yours: 1 [asks], 2, 3 [receives], 4 [jargon] — IELTS, Speaking and exam center are your words. Nobody else in that back room uses them — 5, 6 and 8. Not 7. Block 6 is for the question you can't answer — they are going to ask this: who else did you ask?
Solo para tu rol
| Purpose | Form | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| asking about theirs | What are you doing on …? · How does … work for you? | open question · their Saturday is a thing you don't know yet, and you're about to ask them for it |
| asking for it | Can I ask you a …? · Can we write it in … today? | open the door before you walk in · ask for it where shifts become real |
| bad news | There's a problem: … | break something you already said |
| paying it back | I can take your shift on … · I'll do the inventory on … | an exact date, never "sometime" · put something of yours on the table |
| splitting it | We can do it two ways: … or … · I can be here at … | two options instead of the whole block · the hour that makes a split possible |
| the exam | I'm taking the IELTS on … · I paid … and there's no … | a fixed plan with an hour on it · what you lose, as a number |
Cuándo terminar
Today a message goes to the café group. You finish when the two of you have said all five out loud. Nobody says the other person's points.
A's screen · your two: who opens on Saturday the 12th, and at what time · which shift pays the favor back, and on what exact day.
B's screen · your two: how long that person stays, and who comes in after — it is your 8:00 limit · the name that goes written in the message, which is your one condition.
Together, once: what's still open, who fixes it, and before what time today.
Two rules:
Five points, or it isn't closed. It closes partial. That is the plan.
Después de hablar
Para repasar
El acto de B es conceder-con-condicion y se pronuncia aquí: "I can do it, but only if you ask me in the group today". El tema autoriza literalmente can dentro de la cláusula if ("If you can come, please let me know"), que es lo que hace decible la condición sin discurso indirecto. También sostiene "What if you …?", el tronco con que B propone en vez de negar.
Los dos límites duros del escenario son obligaciones, no gustos: "I have to be free from three to six" (A, después de la carta) y "I have to leave at eight" (B, por el bus). El tema también trae "don't have to" (no es necesario), que es como B usa el bloque 3 de la caja sin quedar mal.
El pago del favor se compromete en will y con fecha exacta: "I'll do the inventory on Monday the 14th", "I'll write it in the group now". El tema separa este uso —decisión que se toma en el momento— del going to, que es lo que distingue una promesa de un plan.
El plan fijo de A es un presente continuo con expresión de tiempo, que el tema declara esencial: "I'm taking the IELTS on Saturday the 12th". Y la interrogativa del propio tema ("Are you working next Saturday?") es la que sostiene el exponente con que A abre por el lado del otro: "What are you doing on Saturday?".
Los cuatro verbos que cargan el pasado del escenario son irregulares: paid ("I paid more than a million pesos"), did ("I did two swaps this month"), said ("Aníbal said the third swap puts me on the backup list") y el del punto 4 del cierre: "I asked you for the swap" — que solo es decible en activa.
La pregunta que A no puede contestar y que su propia ficha le anuncia —"Who else did you ask?"— es past simple directo, con did y sin inversión rara. Es la razón de ser del bloque 6 de la caja.
Lo que queda pendiente —el punto 5 del cierre— se dice con already y yet: "I haven't talked to Aníbal yet", "Have you already written it in the group?". Es present perfect de experiencia y de balance, sin for ni since: la duración se queda fuera de A2.
El tamaño del favor se discute contando: "How many people are coming?" — "Forty", "There aren't many people on Saturday morning", "I don't have much time", "a lot of tips". El escenario entero se juega en cuántos, y sin estos el estudiante dice números sueltos sin marco.
B defiende su coste comparando: "the wedding is bigger than a normal Saturday", "110,000 is more than 45,000". Y A cifra lo que pierde con la misma estructura: "more than a million pesos". Sin comparativo, el coste de cada lado se dice como queja, no como dato.
La columna vertebral de dar razones, que es el acto A2 del escenario: "I want to help, but sixteen hours is too much", "my bus leaves at five, so I can't stay after eight", "because there's no new date". El but es además lo que sujeta el exponente de concesión de B.
Sostiene lo que se dice y lo que se lee. Se dice: "the person who opens", "the shift that pays it back", "the days that pay me in tips". Y se lee: la ficha usa dos relativas de contacto ("the money you paid for it", "anything Aníbal can call swap number three") y este tema es el que enseña que el relativo se omite cuando es objeto.
La carta grande de B es un superlativo: "That is the worst shift of the month". Es la frase que cambia el tamaño del favor, y sin el tema se dice "that shift is very bad", que no obliga a A a mover nada.
Sostiene la petición, la propuesta y la concesión de los dos lados: "Can I ask you a favor?", "Can we write it in the group today?", "We can do it two ways", "I can be here at six thirty", "I can do it, but only if…". El tema cubre explícitamente permiso y petición, y sustituye a los "Could I…?" de cortesía que el registro no ancla en ningún nivel.
El punto 1 del cierre exige quién abre y a qué hora, y el escenario entero son horas: 7:00, 3:00, 8:00, 1:30, 6:30. El tema autoriza la forma digital (three forty, six thirty), que es la única que hace decibles 3:40 y 6:30 sin quarter past ni half past.
La fecha exacta con que se paga el favor no vale sin la preposición: "on Saturday the 12th", "on Friday the 18th", "at eight", "in the afternoon". El tema trae on + día y on + fecha con ordinal, que es exactamente el formato de los datos duros.
Las dos malas noticias del escenario entran con there is: "There's a problem: …" (A, cuando llega la carta) y "There's a reservation for forty people at nine" (B, su carta grande). Y la pérdida de A se dice en negativa: "there's no new date", forma que el tema acepta.
Las dos preguntas abiertas obligatorias son present simple con do/does: "What exactly do you need — the opening or the closing?" (B, antes de contestar nada) y "How does Saturday work for you?" (A). La primera es la que impide que B conceda a ciegas.
¿Abriste la ficha equivocada? Cambia al rol B sin leer más.
Ir al rol BTienes una carta. Se abre en el turno global 6 —el turno 6 de la conversación, no el tuyo— y ocupa esta pantalla entera. Ábrela cuando toque: mirarla antes no te da ventaja, te da trabajo.
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