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  • Vanessa: Hi. I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

  • Are you ready to schedule a doctor's appointment? Let's do it. Talking on the phone, and especially

  • doing some professional business on the phone, can be really intimidating. It can be intimidating

  • for you as an English learner, but it's also intimidating for me as a native English speaker.

  • I sometimes feel a little bit nervous on the phone. I'm not exactly sure what to say. Before

  • I talk on the phone, I need to take a deep breath, think about what I'm going to say.

  • Today I would like to give you that same type of preparation help. You're going to be watching

  • me book an eye doctor appointment for my husband, Dan. I call the eye doctor on the phone, and

  • we go through the process of booking an appointment for him.

  • I want to explain some of the expressions that we use, some of the questions that we

  • use. If you ever need to book an appointment on the phone for a doctor's office, or for

  • a hotel, or book anything on the phone, I hope this will give you some extra confidence

  • so that you can do it because, really, if you take a deep breath, you got it.

  • All right. Let's watch the conversation that I had on the phone with the eye doctor's secretary.

  • Then we're going to pause. I'm going to explain some important expressions to you that I think

  • would be helpful for your daily conversations. All right. Let's watch.

  • All right. I am going to be attempting to make an eye doctor appointment for my husband,

  • Dan. I already scheduled an appointment for myself. I wanted to share that with you, but

  • I forgot to record it. I can't go back now, so I'm going to also make an appointment for

  • my husband, Dan. I want you to listen carefully, hear what they have to say on the phone, the

  • questions they ask. I hope to help you along the way so that you can use these expressions

  • yourself. All right. Let's see what happens. Secretary:

  • Triangle Visions of Asheville. This is Emma. How can I help you?

  • Vanessa: Hi. I was calling to make an eye doctor appointment.

  • Secretary: All right. Have you been seen by us before?

  • Vanessa: All right. We're off to a fast start, huh?

  • The first question that she asked me is, "Have you been seen by us before?" Now this isn't

  • a little joke because they're an eye doctor, and she asks, "Have you been seen by us?"

  • No. This is just a common question that means, are you a current patient at this doctor's

  • office? It's not because they're a vision doctor, an eye doctor. This means, are you

  • a current patient? Have you been seen by us? Let's take a look at another sample sentence

  • where you can use this sentence construction. If the secretary on the phone asks you, "Are

  • you a current patient?" You could say, "No, I haven't been seen by you before." That doesn't

  • mean they have not looked at you. They have not seen you. No, it just means that you're

  • not a current patient. Or if you are a current patient, and they say, "Oh, are you a new

  • patient?" you could say, "No, I've been seen by you before, but it's been a long time."

  • All right. Let's watch that clip one more time. Listen for the question, have you been

  • seen by us before? Then we're going to continue, and you can watch the next part. Let's watch.

  • Secretary: Triangle Visions of Asheville. This is Emma.

  • How can I help you? Vanessa:

  • Hi. I was calling to make an eye doctor appointment. Secretary:

  • All right. Have you been seen by us before? Vanessa:

  • I have not. I'm actually calling to make an appointment for my husband. I have a scheduled

  • appointment for myself, but I wanted to make a second one for him.

  • Secretary: Okay. Got you. Let's see. Yes, it's just a

  • little tricky with spouses. Is he available? Because, unfortunately, because he is a legal

  • adult, he would either need to authorize you to make the appointment, or he would need

  • to make it himself. Vanessa:

  • Oh okay. Would authorization mean he just needs to hop on the phone and say yes? All

  • right. We had a little difficulty here because I'm making the appointment for my husband.

  • Usually, this is not a problem when it's a haircut appointment or something that's a

  • little less formal, but with doctor's offices, it might be a little more serious because

  • there are some regulations they have to comply with. Not everyone has access to your medical

  • data. This secretary is thinking that maybe this includes booking appointments.

  • I wanted to ask, what does authorization mean? Sometimes this just means that the other person

  • needs to send an email. Maybe you need to have an official document, or maybe they just

  • need to say, "Hey, yes, she can book the appointment for me, but I'm too busy to do it myself."

  • I used a wonderful phrasal verb, to hop on. I said, "Does he just need to hop on the phone

  • and say yes?" Maybe he can just say, "Yes, she can book an appointment." That's it.

  • I said, "Hop on," because this means something quick, some type of quick action. We use that

  • full expression, to hop on the phone, but we can also use it in other ways. You might

  • say, "To get to the park, you just have to hop on the bus." You can use it for transportation

  • like this, to hop on the bus, to hop on the train, to hop on a plane, even, if you're

  • making a quick decision to just hop on a plane. When I heard that there was trouble, I hopped

  • on a plane immediately. It's this type of quick, easy action.

  • All right. Let's watch that clip one more time. Then we'll continue with the conversation.

  • I'm actually calling to make an appointment for my husband. I have a scheduled appointment

  • for myself, but I wanted to make a second one for him.

  • Secretary: Okay. Got you. Let's see. Yes, it's just a

  • little tricky with spouses. Is he available? Because, unfortunately, because he is a legal

  • adult, he would either need to authorize you to make the appointment or he would need to

  • make it himself. Vanessa:

  • Oh okay. Would authorization mean he just needs to hop on the phone and say yes?

  • Secretary: Pretty much, yes. Well, because I don't have

  • him in my system... Actually, let me ask real quick, if you don't mind.

  • Vanessa: Let's talk about two points in this quick

  • clip. She said, "Let me ask real quick." Just to let you know, the correct grammar is really

  • quick, but in daily English conversation, sometimes we just say real quick. We use real

  • with something else like, oh, it's a real beautiful day today. It's a real beautiful...

  • It should be, it's a really beautiful day, but you will hear English speakers use real

  • instead of really, even though it's grammatically incorrect.

  • Personally, I don't recommend that you use this, but if you hear it, you'll know what's

  • happening, and you'll understand. It's just kind of a really casual type of conversational

  • language. Let's talk about that last sentence that she said, "If you don't mind." This is

  • simply a polite comment. I don't have a choice. It sounds like she's giving me a choice I

  • can ask or I don't need to ask, but really, she's not giving me a choice. She's just letting

  • me know, "Hey, I'll be right back." She could have said, "Just a moment. I'll be right back."

  • That's totally fine too. She said, "If you don't mind," and she's not waiting for an

  • answer. She just says, "If you don't mind." Then I say, "Okay," and then she goes and

  • asks for permission about this situation. This is a really nice, kind of, just filler

  • expression to be polite, "Hey, if you don't mind."

  • Let's watch that clip, and then we'll continue with the conversation where you will hear

  • a very important phone verb. Let's watch. I'm actually calling to make an appointment

  • for my husband. I have a scheduled appointment for myself, but I wanted to make a second

  • one for him. Secretary:

  • Okay. Got you. Let's see. It's just a little tricky with spouses. Is he available? Because,

  • unfortunately, because he is a legal adult, he would either need to authorize you to make

  • the appointment or he would need to make it himself.

  • Vanessa: Oh okay. Would authorization mean he just

  • needs to hop on the phone and say yes? Secretary:

  • Pretty much, yes. Well, because I don't have it in my system... Actually, let me ask real

  • quick, if you don't mind. If you'll just hold just a second.

  • Vanessa: Another quick sentence. She said, "If you'll

  • hold just a second." Am I holding something in my hands? No. She's asking just to wait.

  • This is a common phone verb. That means you are waiting on the phone. Let's take a look

  • at some common sentences using hold that you'll most likely hear on the phone in this type

  • of situation. Do you mind holding for a moment? I'm not

  • holding something in my hands. Instead, do you mind waiting for a moment. Because we

  • use hold on the phone, this is a more common verb. Do you mind holding for a moment? Do

  • you mind holding for a second. Or you might just hear the simple sentence, "Please hold."

  • I've gotten this often on the phone when a place is really busy. Let's say you're making

  • a restaurant reservation, and they're super busy. You call. They might just pick up the

  • phone and say the name of the restaurant and then, "Please hold," nothing else. They don't

  • wait for a reply. They just say, "Please hold." That means you got to wait because they're

  • really busy. If you would like to see about how to order

  • food on the phone in English, I made another one of these lessons where I ordered food

  • on the phone. Then I explained some expressions to you. You can watch that video up here.

  • A lot of you found that very useful, and I hope that you will too. You can use just,

  • please hold, very simple, straightforward, especially if you're extremely busy.

  • We can put this in a bigger phrase. Someone might say, or if you're a secretary, you might

  • say, "I'm going to put you on hold for a moment." This phrase, to put you on hold, is the same

  • idea. Please wait. Maybe they're going to push the hold button on the phone. That's

  • kind of what this means. All right. I'm going to put you on hold for just a moment. Ask

  • this question, and then I'll be back. I'm going to put you on hold for a moment. It

  • just lets the other person know that they haven't disappeared, but you're just going

  • to have to wait for a moment. Finally, a common one is, thank you for holding.

  • This is pretty self-explanatory. After the person comes back on the phone, then they

  • are going to thank you for waiting, thank you for holding. You will see this, or rather

  • hear this expression, in just a minute. Let's review that sentence. You'll hear it again,

  • and then we'll move on with the conversation. Listen for this great phrase, "Thank you for

  • holding." All right. Let's watch. Secretary:

  • If you'll just hold just a second. Vanessa:

  • I could have Dan make the appointment. He is just in the other room, but I wanted to

  • share it with you. We'll see what happens. This is a good test.

  • Secretary: Thank you for holding. I cleared that up with

  • them. Actually, we should be good. As long as we're just making an appointment, we should

  • be all right. Vanessa:

  • All right. Secretary:

  • All right. Okay. Yes, I never want to slack off on the HIPAA stuff, so I just wanted to

  • make sure. Vanessa:

  • No problem. In this section you heard, "We would be good. We should be all right." This

  • type of phrase, to be good, to be all right, or to be okay, just means everything's fine.

  • Everything's correct. We can even use this in a really casual situation that you'll probably

  • hear a lot in movies, TV shows. You can use it too. If you're just walking and someone

  • bumps you, they might say, "Oh sorry." What can you say to reply to them? They bumped

  • into you. You could say, "It's okay. No problem," or you can use this phrase and you could say,

  • "It's okay. You're good." "You're good," is a very casual way to say, I forgive you. Usually,

  • we use forgive for pretty serious things, but it's a casual way to say that. Oh, no

  • worries. You're good. This means I'm fine. I'm not hurt. Forget about it. It's totally

  • fine. Oh, you're good. This is a really casual way to say this. You

  • could also interchange, "Oh, you're all right. You're okay," but I think, "You're good,"

  • is probably more common in this bumping situation. "Oh, you're good." You'll hear this a lot.

  • There's another great phrasal verb that I'd like to share with you, and it is to slack

  • off. I love this one. This means that you are not careful about something. It's not

  • about danger. It usually means laziness or forgetfulness. We use this often in school

  • situations. You might say, "Yes. I got a perfect score

  • on my first test in English class, so I thought I'm great at English. I don't need to study.

  • I slacked off. The next test, I failed." This means I was lazy. I was not attentive. I was

  • not careful about studying because I thought everything's fine. It's fine. No problem.

  • I can slack off, and I'll still get a good grade, but really, I shouldn't have slacked

  • off. We can sometimes just give a warning. Don't slack off. Don't slack off. You need

  • to stop slacking off and get to work. On the phone, the secretary was saying, "I

  • don't want to slack off on HIPAA stuff." What is HIPAA? Let me tell you. HIPAA... That stands

  • for, I looked it up, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Basically, this is

  • medical privacy, that if your neighbor calls your doctor's office, they can't say, "Hey,

  • can you tell me the medical records for my neighbor?" No, this is private information.

  • This law, this act is basically protecting you.

  • Whenever you go to a doctor's office, when you make an appointment, or when you fill

  • out some forms, there will hopefully be a HIPAA form. The secretary will probably tell

  • you this, "All right. Fill out these forms with your medical history and sign this HIPAA

  • form." It says, "I agree to have my medical information be private." That's the general

  • idea, I think. It's saying, I agree that this should be private.

  • If there is a situation where you want someone else to have access to your medical information,

  • maybe your husband, or wife, or mother, or something like this, then there's often a

  • section where you can write, this person also can have access to my data. If your husband

  • calls the doctor's office and says, "Hey, did you get the lab results for my wife? I'd

  • like to know what they are," well, if his name is not given permission to see that,

  • they'll say, "No, we can't tell you. It's a private thing. It's under this act."

  • If he has permission, if you have given legal permission on this form, then they can tell

  • him over the phone. Then that's not a problem. He'll probably need to verify who he is, that

  • he's not your neighbor. In this situation, it's just keeping your information private.

  • All right. Let's watch that section one more time. Listen for those useful expressions,

  • and then we'll go on to the next section where you'll hear some more valuable parts of booking

  • an appointment on the phone. Let's watch. Secretary:

  • Okay. Thank you for holding. I cleared that up with them. Actually, we should be good.

  • As long as we're just making an appointment, we should be all right.

  • Vanessa: All right.

  • Secretary: All right. Okay. I never want to slack off

  • on the HIPAA stuff, so I just wanted to make sure.

  • Vanessa: No problem.

  • Secretary: All right. What is his last name?

  • Vanessa: It's Prothe, P-R-O-T-H-E.

  • Secretary: All right. What is the first name?

  • Vanessa: Daniel.

  • Secretary: Got you. What is his date of birth?

  • Vanessa: It's 4/1/87.

  • Secretary: Okay, great. All right. I'll link up the addresses

  • here. What is your first name? Vanessa:

  • Vanessa. Okay. I want you to notice two things that happened in this section. The first one

  • was that I spelled my last name. If your last name is unusual, especially maybe difficult

  • to spell for an American... It's a very vague sentence, but something that might not be

  • extremely common in the U. S. Be prepared to spell your last name and also your first

  • name. I didn't spell Daniel or Vanessa because those are commonly known in the U. S., and

  • people most likely know how to spell them. If you don't want to spell your name, then

  • you can wait until they ask you. Because it's a doctor's office appointment, usually, you

  • want them to spell your name correctly and to have everything accurate for medical reasons.

  • If you think maybe your last name or your first name's difficult to spell, just practice

  • spelling it in advance so that when you go to the appointment, they can easily find you.

  • There's one more thing. When I said Dan's date of birth... That's how she asked me.

  • It's kind of a formal way. She didn't say, "When's his birthday?" She said, "What's his

  • date of birth?" This is common for a doctor's office. I said, "4/1/87." Do you think that

  • his birthday is January 4th, or do you think his birthday is April 1st?

  • Unfortunately, the U. S. is not very logical about dates, and we use month, day, year.

  • I know that almost the rest of the world says day, month, year, and this makes so much sense.

  • Unfortunately, in the U. S., we don't do it like that. His birthday is April 1st, 1987.

  • You can use this. You can say the specific numbers of your date of birth, or you can

  • just say April 1st, 1987. Totally fine. If I ever need to give a date for someone

  • who's from another country, and I'm not certain if they are using day, month, year, or month,

  • day, year, I just say the full thing, September 4th, 1987. That's my birthday. I will say

  • the full date. Maybe that would be a little bit safer for you because if you tell the

  • doctor's office the wrong birthday, and when you go to the office, they verify your identity

  • with your birthday, that could cause a problem. They might say, "Oh, you're not the same person

  • because your birthday is wrong." Try to be as clear as possible about the day.

  • If you're not comfortable saying 4/1/87, because maybe it's January, maybe it's April, just

  • say the full thing. That's totally fine. All right. Let's go back and watch this clip where

  • I spelled our last name and I gave Dan's date of birth. Then we'll continue with the conversation.

  • Let's watch. Secretary:

  • What is his last name? Vanessa:

  • It's Prothe, P-R-O-T-H-E. Secretary:

  • All right. What is the first name? Vanessa:

  • Daniel. Secretary:

  • Got you. What is his date of birth? Vanessa:

  • It's 4/1/87. Secretary:

  • Okay, great. All right. I'll link up the addresses here. What is your first name?

  • Vanessa: Vanessa.

  • Secretary: Got you. The address is...

  • Vanessa: That's right.

  • Secretary: Okay, great. All right. I'm going to link

  • that up. What's the best phone number to reach him by?

  • Vanessa: 412.

  • Secretary: All right. Is that a phone number that he's

  • okay with receiving text reminders on? Vanessa:

  • Yes. Secretary:

  • Okay, great. All right. I've got that set up for him. All right. Will he be doing the

  • out-of-pocket as well? Vanessa:

  • Yes. Secretary:

  • Got you. Vanessa:

  • You just heard a great expression, out-of-pocket. What is in my pocket? What do you think she's

  • saying? Are you taking something out of your pocket? No. This means that all of the expenses

  • for the medical visit, I will pay by myself without insurance. Let's talk about payment.

  • When you go to the doctor's office, you have two choices. You can pay with your insurance

  • if you have insurance, or you can pay out-of=pocket. For me, I have general health insurance, but

  • that does not include eye insurance. When I go to the eye doctor, I need to pay out-of-pocket.

  • She knows this because I've already booked an appointment for myself. In their system,

  • it says out-of-pocket. It says Vanessa does not have eye insurance, so she will pay out-of-pocket.

  • I imagine in their computer system, there's two options: insurance, out-of-pocket. They

  • probably clicked out-of-pocket. They know, or they're guessing, that my husband, Dan,

  • also will be paying out-of-pocket. If you are simply visiting the U. S. and you have

  • no insurance, this is what you'd say. They'd ask you, "Do you have insurance, or do you

  • have your insurance card with you?" I say, "No, I'm paying out-of-pocket." Great. This

  • is very clear, and this is the typical medical expression.

  • Whenever you pay out-of-pocket, they will most likely tell you the full price for your

  • visit in advance. If they don't, it's okay to ask. I always do because I'm going to be

  • paying in cash at that moment, so I want to know how much it will be. Usually, they'll

  • tell you. You're about to see that in just a moment. She'll tell me the full price for

  • the visit because I'm going to be paying out-of-pocket. I need to know.

  • If they don't tell you, feel free to ask, "Hey, by any chance, can you tell me how much

  • is the price for this visit?" They'll tell you. If they don't know, well, that's another

  • problem. She can probably dig a little bit deeper, or maybe you should go to somewhere

  • else that's a little more clear. In general, most places will tell you the full price for

  • an out-of-pocket payment. All right. Let's watch that clip one more time, and we'll go

  • on to the next one where you'll hear some more details about the payment. Let's watch.

  • Secretary: All right. Is that a phone number that he's

  • okay with receiving text reminders on? Vanessa:

  • Yes. Secretary:

  • Okay, great. All right. I've got that set up for him. All right. Will he be doing the

  • out-of-pocket as well? Vanessa:

  • Yes. Secretary:

  • Got you. All right. Is he a contact-lens wearer? Vanessa:

  • Yes. Right now, he wears glasses and occasionally wears the daily contacts. I'm sure he'd like

  • to have an appointment to see all of that, get an appointment for contacts and just a

  • general eye exam. That would be great. Secretary:

  • Okay. Got you. Just to give you a heads-up there, the exam itself... That would include

  • seeing the doctor and getting your glasses prescription, all that, that's $99 out-of-pocket.

  • The contact lens exam is its own separate charge. Since he's worn contacts before, you'd

  • be looking at $75 for if he gets fit for a standard lens or $120 if he gets fit for a

  • specialty lens. All right. That would also include any follow-up visits that he may need

  • for that. Vanessa:

  • Oh, got you. Okay. All right. In this section, you heard a little bit more details about

  • the payment for this eye doctor's visit. She used a really great expression that you're

  • going to hear a lot in daily conversation, and that is, to give a heads-up, to give a

  • heads-up. This is usually a warning. It's not always something that's really seriously

  • negative. Let's take this example that you don't like

  • dogs, or maybe you're a little bit allergic to dogs. You're about to go to your neighbor's

  • dinner party. Your neighbor might say, "Oh, I just want to give you a heads-up that my

  • uncle is bringing his dog to our party." This is like a little warning. It's not something

  • super serious. It's not, "There's a cliff. Don't fall off the cliff. I want to give you

  • a heads-up." No, no, no. That's really serious. That's just, watch out.

  • If there's something that you want to warn someone about a little bit, you can say a

  • heads-up. That's why she used it about the payment. She wanted to maybe have a indirect

  • or polite way to start talking about how much I will be required to pay. She said, "I just

  • want to give you a heads-up." I just want to give you a notice or a warning that this

  • is how much the visit will cost. Then she used a great expression, "You're

  • looking at $75 if he wears standard lenses." This is the price, $75 for part of the appointment.

  • She said, "You're looking at." Is this another clever expression with vision and eye doctor,

  • you're looking at. This just is a polite way to talk about money.

  • Let me give you another sample sentence. If you go to a car dealership and you buy a car,

  • the car salesman might say, "You're looking at $15,000 before tax." The price of the car

  • is $15,000 before tax. Instead of saying, "The price of this car is $15,000 before tax,"

  • it's a more casual way and maybe kind way to talk about price. You're looking at. You're

  • looking at 15,000 before tax. It's also a roundabout number.

  • Maybe the eye doctor's appointment will be $80. Maybe it will be $70. She gave us specific

  • number, $75. I imagine that this will probably be $75, but for other purchases like a car,

  • it might be a little more indirect. You're looking at $15,000 before tax. All right.

  • Let's go back and watch this clip. Then we'll go onto the next one.

  • Secretary: All right. Is he a contact-lens wearer?

  • Vanessa: Yes. Right now, he wears glasses and occasionally

  • wears the daily contacts. I'm sure he'd like to have an appointment to see all of that,

  • get an appointment for contacts and just a general eye exam. That would be great.

  • Secretary: Okay. Got you. Just to give you a heads-up

  • there, the exam itself that would include seeing the doctor, and getting your glasses

  • prescription, and all that, that's $99 out-of-pocket. The contact lens exam is its own separate

  • charge. Since he's worn contacts before, you'd be looking at $75 for if he gets fit for a

  • standard lens or $120 if he gets fit for a specialty lens. All right. That would also

  • include any follow-up visits that he may need for that.

  • Vanessa: Oh, got you. Okay.

  • Secretary: All right. Okay. Let's look for an appointment

  • for him. Did you want me to try to schedule you all both together or just book him a separate

  • appointment? Vanessa:

  • Probably a separate appointment would be best. Secretary:

  • Okay. Got you. Is there a preferred timeframe or day of the week you'd like me to be looking

  • at? Vanessa:

  • If there's any afternoon that's available, that would probably be good, anytime, yes,

  • in the afternoon. In this clip, I said two very similar expressions. I said, "That would

  • be good. That would be best." This is, really, just a polite way to say, "Yes, that's what

  • I want." Often we kind of use indirect language like this when we're doing something professional.

  • Let me give you a couple examples. When can we have a meeting? I think Friday would be

  • best. Oh, this is great, very polite. I think Friday would be best. Just very simple and

  • clear, but it's also polite. Or if you're booking a hotel and the secretary on the phone

  • says you can check in at 10:00 AM or 2:00 PM. Well, you could say, "I think 2:00 PM

  • would be good." I think 2:00 PM would be good. You could just say, "2:00 PM, please." That's

  • fine. This great expression, "I think 2:00 PM would be good," is another one you can

  • use. All right. Let's go back and watch this clip and continue with the conversation. We're

  • almost done. You got this. Let's watch. Secretary:

  • Let's look for an appointment for him. Did you want me to try to schedule you all both

  • together or just book him a separate appointment? Vanessa:

  • Probably a separate appointment would be best. Secretary:

  • Got you. Is there a preferred timeframe or day of the week you'd like me to be looking

  • at? Vanessa:

  • If there's any afternoon that's available, that would probably be good, anytime, yes,

  • in the afternoon. Secretary:

  • Got you. All right. It looks like my first afternoon appointment I've got available...

  • I have Tuesday the 4th at 1:30. Vanessa:

  • Okay. Tuesday the 4th at 1:30... Yes, that seems fine. Let's go with that.

  • Secretary: Okay, great. All right. I'm going to put him

  • there. Vanessa:

  • I said, "Let's go with that." Did you hear me say that? Let's go with that. This is just,

  • that's the one I want to choose. We often use this expression, go with, when we're ordering

  • something. You'll hear this often in a restaurant. You can use this in a restaurant too. You

  • might say, "I'll go with the steak and salad, please." I'll go with. It doesn't mean that

  • you are taking the steak and salad to go and taking it home. It just means this is what

  • I choose. This is what I want to order. I'll go with the steak and salad, please. Excellent.

  • This is a great way to use this phrase. Okay. Let's go back and watch and then continue

  • our conversation. Secretary:

  • All right. It looks like my first afternoon appointment I've got available... I have Tuesday

  • the 4th at 1:30. Vanessa:

  • Okay. Tuesday the 4th at 1:30... Yes, that seems fine. Let's go with that.

  • Secretary: Okay, great. All right. I'm going to put him

  • there. Vanessa:

  • About how long are those appointments? Secretary:

  • I'd say about 45 minutes, average. It also sort of depends. If he wants to pick out glasses,

  • frames, or anything like that at the end, that would extend the time a little bit.

  • Vanessa: Sure.

  • Secretary: On average, I'd say about 45 minutes, around

  • there. Vanessa:

  • Okay. That's great. Why did I ask, "About how long will this appointment be?" This is

  • not a necessary question. Really, I just asked this for my own personal knowledge because

  • while Dan is at the doctor's office, I will be watching the kids. I wanted to know, do

  • we have time to be dropped off at a park and then he could pick us up? Or what do we have

  • time to do while he's gone? I just wanted to know. I wanted to show you, too, that if

  • you have any questions for the secretary when you're booking these types of appointments,

  • feel free to ask. As you can see, this lady is extremely kind

  • and polite. It's no problem to ask a question. If you have any, don't worry about asking.

  • Just ask and that way, you're not guessing or wondering about something. You know. All

  • right. Let's continue with the conversation. About how long are those appointments?

  • Secretary: I'd say about 45 minutes, average. It also

  • sort of depends. If he wants to pick out glasses, frames, or anything like that at the end,

  • that would extend the time a little bit. Vanessa:

  • Sure. Secretary:

  • On average, I'd say about 45 minutes, around there.

  • Vanessa: Okay. That's great.

  • Secretary: All right. Okay. I have got him booked for

  • Tuesday the 4th at 1:30. Is there anything else I can do for you?

  • Vanessa: That's it. All right. We are coming to the

  • end of the conversation. She asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" I said, "That's

  • it." That's it. I didn't need to say, "No, that's it." I could have said that, but this

  • expression, "that's it," means I'm finished. Everything is complete.

  • When you're ordering at a restaurant, you can also use this. Let's go back to our previous

  • example where you say, "I'll go with the steak and salad, please." Then your waiter says,

  • "Would you like a glass of wine to go with that?" You say, "No, that's it." You're saying,

  • "I don't want the wine. I'm finished. I just want the steak and salad. No, that's it."

  • This is a great expression to use to just politely say, "I'm done. No. This is it. That's

  • all that I want." All right. Let's watch that clip one more time. We have finished our conversation.

  • Let's watch. Secretary:

  • All right. Okay. I have got him booked for Tuesday the 4th at 1:30. Is there anything

  • else I can do for you? Vanessa:

  • That's it. Secretary:

  • All right. Looks great. Well, you have a great rest of your day.

  • Vanessa: Thanks so much. You too.

  • Secretary: Thank you. Goodbye.

  • Vanessa: Bye. Success. Yes. Congratulations on following

  • me on this journey of a booking a doctor's appointment on the phone. For me, sometimes

  • I do feel a little nervous in these situations. If you feel a little nervous, don't worry.

  • It is perfectly normal. I hope that this lesson will help you to prepare a little bit.

  • Now I have a question for you. Tell me, do you like booking appointments over the phone,

  • even in your native language? How do you feel? Do you feel comfortable with this type of

  • thing, or do you feel a little bit nervous? Let me know in the comments. I can't wait

  • to read to see what you have to say. We are all human around the world. We all have similar

  • feelings and experiences. Well, thank you so much for learning English

  • with me. I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.

  • The next step is to download my free ebook, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English

  • Speaker. You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently. Don't forget

  • to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.

Vanessa: Hi. I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

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