Amy’s business trip

Amy and Mona met when they were 5 and now, when they are 28, they still are best friends. Mona
works for a magazine about cars and Amy has a small catering company. They both live in London.

“Hi Amy! How was your week?” asked Mona.

“Hi… It was ok... Well, actually it was terrible – I had the worst business trip ever!”

“Why? Let’s go to the coffee house at the corner, and tell me about it.”

They went to Mona’s favourite Café. They sat at the table by the window and ordered fancy coffee.

“Now, Amy, tell me about that terrible trip.”

“Ok, it started on Tuesday. I got a call from a new client. She said her friend recommended me, and
now she needs a caterer for her 40th birthday. I thought ‘That’s great, I’m free next month’. So, we
set a meeting for Thursday, at 3 p.m. in her house in Tilbury. I told her ‘I will bring a cake for you to
try and I will cook something in your kitchen’. She liked the idea. So, the whole Wednesday I was
baking and choosing the dishes. When I decided what to prepare, I went shopping and baked a really
good chocolate & almond cake and a strawberry pie.”

“So far, so good. What went wrong?” asked Mona.

“Everything! First, on Thursday, I prepared the pastries, and went to my car. It didn’t start! It was
broken. Luckily, my neighbour is really nice and I borrowed his car, but after 20 minutes I stuck in
traffic. I didn’t want to be late, so later I was driving very fast. And a policeman stopped me and gave
me a ticket. Later, a cat jumped on the street, so I stopped quickly, but the strawberry pie landed on
the floor and on my trousers… When I finally got to the client, I was late and dirty, and didn’t have
the pie. When Mrs. Smith saw me, she was not angry – she laughed! I still had the cake – it looked
great, but she said: ‘I can’t taste it, I’m allergic to almonds, but don’t worry – cook the dinner for me’.
I prepared chicken with wine & peach sauce – it was delicious! I was happy that this thing was ok, so I
served it, but her cat jumped on the table, and ate the chicken!

“Oh, dear… That’s terrible! Funny, but terrible! What did Mrs. Smith say?”

“She was nice and said ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hire you without trying your food, but I’ll pay for your trip
here and for the shopping’. I got my money back, but I still have to wash my neighbour’s car!”