1. Charge or debit? (Credit or debit?)
Using a credit card or e-wallet?
Charge (Credit) refers to what we usually call a credit card. Credit cards are very convenient to use, but if you have no income and no social security card, it is difficult to apply for a credit card. Our cash card (ATM card) is debit, which will debit money directly from your checking account. Generally speaking, you will be asked this question whenever you go to a place where credit cards are swiped. People who have just come to the United States are often confused by this sentence and do not know what it is asking. In fact, as long as you understand what charge and debit are, this sentence is not difficult to understand. The answer depends on whether you use a credit card or an ATM card. If you use a credit card, say charge, if you use an ATM card, say debit.
2. Cash back?
Want to get your cash back?
The handling fee for inter-bank withdrawals in the United States is $1.5, which is scary enough, right? But the United States is so big, how easy is it to find an ATM from the same bank as the bank that issued the card? Does this mean that you have to pay high handling fees every time you withdraw cash?
In fact, as long as you make good use of the cash back function, the situation will be completely different. Cash back means that if you buy something for 10 yuan, but when you swipe your card, you can swipe 30 yuan, and the remaining 20 yuan will be given to you in cash for 20 yuan. In this way, you don’t have to carry a large amount of cash with you when you go out, and you don’t have to pay high withdrawal fees. The only disadvantage is that there is an amount limit. Some stores can cash back up to $50, while some stores can only cash back $20. Generally speaking, only ATM cards can provide cash back, and ordinary credit cards cannot. However, some special credit cards, such as Discover, also provide the cash back function. Its advantage is that it is not restricted by the issuing bank's cash machine. The ATM card I took in Atlanta can be used for cash back in Boston, and there is no handling fee at all. Please take advantage of it.
3. How are you going to pay?
How do you pay?
People who don't live in the United States, or people who have just come to the United States, will feel confused when they hear this sentence. In fact, this sentence is very similar to the sentence "Charge or debit". It asks how you want to pay, such as credit card, debit card or cash. This sentence appeared in the movie "Electronic Love Letter". When the male protagonist went to the heroine's bookstore to buy something, the clerk asked the male protagonist this sentence, and Tom Hank answered: cash. It just means paying cash.
4. Double coupon.
Double discount coupon.
I think anyone who has been in the United States for a while knows how to use coupons to save money! The so-called coupon is a discount coupon issued by the manufacturer, such as the Save 50c coupon (the discount coupon allows you to pay 50c less at checkout, and then these stores will use these coupons to exchange money with the manufacturer.
So what is a double coupon? There is a very famous grocery store called Kroger in the United States. A policy implemented for the purpose of promotion. They claim that if you go to their store to buy something with a 50c coupon, you can get a discount of 1 yuan, which is enough to double the discount amount. The extra 50c is a discount given to customers by Kroger. However, there are some restrictions. For example, the denomination of each coupon cannot exceed 75c, and the double coupon can only be used once for the same product.
5. Bring your receipt to the customer service, and they will refund you.
Show your receipt to customer service and they will refund your money.
The United States is a country that attaches great importance to consumer rights, so almost every merchant will have a dedicated customer service counter. If you have any questions, go to them and they will probably give you a satisfactory answer. I feel that when you go to the supermarket to buy things, the proportion of them miscalculating the money is quite high. As long as you find any problems on the receipt, you can take the receipt to customer service and ask for a refund.
I think Americans are quite humane. One time I forgot to take out my membership card when I checked out, so I paid six or seven yuan more. Although it was my own fault, when I took my membership card and receipt to explain to the customer service, they still refunded the money to me. I felt very moved.
6. I want to take the raincheck for the eggs.
I want to get a raincheck for eggs.
Sometimes a certain product is on sale and is sold out quickly. If this situation were in Taiwan, the merchant would definitely say, if it's sold out, it's sold out, and there's nothing I can do about it. But the American system is very interesting. It doesn't matter if the special items are sold out. You can go get a raincheck from them. After a period of time (perhaps until the sale of the product ends) you can still purchase the product at the same price as the sale. This kind of system really makes people feel very considerate.
The so-called raincheck means that if the game is postponed due to rain, fans can exchange their tickets for raincheck and retain the rights to this ticket so that they can watch the game later.
7. I am sorry you are on the Cash Only Lane
I'm sorry you're in a cash-only checkout lane.
Cash Only As the name suggests, it only accepts cash. Other credit cards and checks are not accepted. Usually merchants set up Cash Only Lane in order to speed up checkout. But when I first came to the United States, I didn’t even pay attention to the signs. If you walked into this lane and didn’t have enough cash, you would be in big trouble. You would have to pay a $1.5 withdrawal fee to get $20 to give to him, which is really annoying.
In addition, there are many different lanes, such as Express Lane, which may only accept customers with less than ten items. In short, you will not suffer a big loss if you read the signs clearly before checking out.
8. The price will go down.
The price will be reduced.
Personal experience: go down and go up are very useful. When you don’t know what verb to use, such as increase or surge, just use goes up. For example, once I went to buy car insurance, and I always wanted to ask him if I didn’t make a claim during the year, will the premium next year be lower? I couldn't think of whether to use "decrease" or "lower" for this reduction, but later I heard him say, "The price will go down." Did it sound smooth to me? Let’s take another example. For example, when the concentration increases during an experiment, you can say increase, but you can also say, “The concentration goes up.” Doesn’t that sound good?
In other similar spoken language, you can use rise and drop to represent go up and go down. For example, "The price will drop."
9. We have a clearance sale today.
We have a clearance sale today.
Clearance sale is a fixed usage, which is the so-called clearance sale. Unfortunately, I have never heard of the "jump sale" in the United States, otherwise it would be very interesting. In addition, if we go to the store to find these auction items, we can ask the store clerk, "Where can I find the clearance items?" The so-called clearance item means clearance items, which means zero-size goods, or odd sizes also means zero-size goods.
10.Can you give me the invoice?
Can you give me an invoice?
I often hear people asking how to say the word invoice in English? It’s the word invoice! It's a pity that when buying things in the United States, you usually only give a receipt. It makes us lose a lot of the fun of winning big prizes with invoices (people really live for hope!!) Only when buying big things, such as car insurance, they will give you the so-called invoice.
First of all, everyone must understand the above 10 English sentences, and secondly, they must be able to speak them in order to make smooth and hassle-free shopping.
