Podcast: That was just bizarre!

What's up? No podcast de hoje, eu falo sobre uma situação que aconteceu comigo essa semana - e que eu achei bizarra! Ouça!

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Transcrição

What's up? You're listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

So if you have been following Inglês Online for a while you may know two things about me: I live in London, and I like taking my laptop to coffee shops to work. Sometimes I work from home, and sometimes I go out to a coffee shop.

So last Thursday I went to my usual coffee shop, not too far from where I live, and started doing some work. Everything was going swimmingly: I talked to a couple of people about work on Skype, completed some tasks, reviewed a couple of things... And then my phone rang, and it was a call I wanted to take.

The coffee shop was pretty noisy, so I knew it was going to be slightly challenging to hear the other speaker clearly. So I looked around and trusted my intuition that it would be OK to leave all my stuff at the table and get out of the shop for two minutes to have this chat in a quieter place.

Now, I know I'm speaking mainly to Brazilians here, who listen to this podcast. In Brazil - at least in big cities - it would be really risky to get out of a coffee shop and leave your stuff behind, even for a few minutes. In London.. it's risky too. Not as risky as Brazil, but still risky.

Now, I've lived here for almost five years now, I've had my phone nicked in a coffee shop, so I'm pretty aware of what can happen. Still, I quickly assessed the situation when that call came in, and, fully aware of the risks, decided it would be OK to get out for a minute or so.

So after I was done with the call I came back in and walked over to my table, and my stuff was GONE. Everything. I stood there in shock for quite a few seconds, and then I said "Oh my god" as I looked over to the two women sitting at the table next to me. They were there when I left, so I thought they must have seen the person who stole my things.

Several seconds later, one of the women looked at me and said "Oh, we took all your stuff to the barista. You shouldn't leave your computer and your bag unattended." Well, there is something I didn't know!

Now, my first impulse when this kind of thing happens is to try and acknowledge any good intentions behind it - so all I could say while they were talking was "Thank you" and "I know, you're right, but you scared me to death." One of the women said "You're lucky we're not thieves." It took me a few seconds to process that they were actually trying to teach me a lesson and by then I was ready to leave. Sure, great intentions, but making me stand there for several seconds unnecessarily thinking that all my stuff had been stolen? A bit much.

So I said "Thank you for the lesson" and walked off. I didn't say it rudely, but I was being sarcastic. Sadly, I don't think they got the sarcasm. One of the women said "You're welcome!" So I went over to the counter, got my stuff from the barista and left.

I'm sure I'm going to hear a few different kinds of opinions on this one, so TELL ME! Tell me what you think about this one and talk to you next time!

Vocabulary

swimmingly = very well, perfectly

my phone was nicked = meu telefone foi roubado; nick = roubar (UK slang)

barista = palavra usada para as pessoas que trabalham num café preparando as bebidas