Beef

(Sounds from inside aircraft)

Li:	Chicken or beef?
Male customer:	Chicken please.
Li:	There you go, sir. And madam? Chicken or beef?
Female customer:	Oooh, beef please.
Li:	There you are.
Female customer:	Thanks.
Li:	(whispering) Hello and welcome to the programme ... and the flight. I'm Li and I'm doing a bit of extra work as a flight stewardess. Lunchtime has just started so I'd better get back to work—lots of hungry customers. Chicken or beef sir?
Familiar customer:	(irritated) Actually, I have a beef with you.
Li:	Beef? Ok, there you go.
Familiar customer:	No, no—I don't want beef. I have a beef with you about this menu.
Li:	You want some beef ... with me? Sorry sir, I don't think we can provide that service.
Familiar customer:	Listen. My beef is you don't have vegetarian food.
Li:	Er ... I'm not quite sure I understand.
Familiar customer:	(genuinely willing to help) Oh, I'm very sorry, do let me explain. In English, we can use the word 'beef' to mean 'complaint' or 'disagreement'.
Li:	Oh I see ...
Familiar customer:	Yes—we say 'I have a beef with someone or something over or about something else'—a disagreement about something. Let me see if the other passengers can help give us some examples. Would you mind, sir?
Male customer:	Not at all. How about: I had a beef with my teacher about the amount of homework we were getting.
Familiar customer:	Yes—if you felt you were getting too much homework you might say that! Thank you.
Male customer:	Welcome.
Familiar customer:	Anyone else?
Female customer:	Oh, I can think of one: Mark had a beef with his wife.
Familiar customer:	Very good. He had a disagreement with his wife. What was the reason? A full sentence please.
Female customer:	Mark had a beef with his wife over ... over ... parking their car. He thought she always parked it very badly.
Familiar customer:	Great. Well I hope she's better at parking now. Is that clear, Li?
Li:	Yes, it is now thank you teacher, I mean sir ... I mean ... you look a bit familiar! A bit like our presenter Finn.
Familiar customer:	Shhhh ... yes it is me. But I'm on holiday—not working, well only working a bit. After explaining this phrase I'm done!
Li:	Well, have a nice holiday!
Familiar customer:	Thanks. And I do still have a beef with this menu—why don't you have a vegetarian option?
Li:	We do—but you need to reserve it online first, Finn, I mean sir. And while you're online, why not check out our website bbclearningenglish.com for more phrases like this one!
Familiar customer:	Yes, it's a wonderful site. Back to holidays now. Bye.
Li:	Bye.