Reader 04
The Wrong Shelf
At a grocery store, Priya was training a new worker named Sam while Nina and Carlos restocked the shelves.
Nina stopped beside the drink section. “Sam, did you put these sugar-free drinks here?”
“Yes,” Sam answered. “The bottles look almost the same, so I placed them with the regular drinks.”
“We need to keep them separate,” Nina explained. “Otherwise, customers could get mixed up and choose the wrong one.”
Sam studied the labels. “I saw the different words, but I thought this shelf was close enough.”
Carlos set down a box. “Close enough can cause problems here. Some customers choose sugar-free products for an important reason.”
“I didn’t think about that,” Sam admitted.
Priya pointed to the shelf labels. “Let’s get on the same page before we restock anything else. Sugar-free drinks go on the left, and regular drinks go on the right.”
Sam nodded. “Understood. I’ll move them now.”
A customer nearby picked up a sugar-free bottle. “Thank you for separating these,” she said. “I almost grabbed the wrong one.”
Sam looked at the similar bottles again. “Now I understand why the details matter,” he replied. “I’ll check the labels more carefully from now on.”
VOCABULARY
Write the words or expressions from the story that are new to you or that you want to review.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Share your thoughts. Use details from the story to support your answers.
Sam noticed the different words on the bottles but still thought the shelf was “close enough.” What does this reveal about his understanding of the task at first?
How does Priya’s response help Sam move from understanding the problem to correcting it? Explain how her instructions build on Nina’s and Carlos’s comments.
Why is the customer’s comment important to the ending? How does it help explain the change between Sam’s first decision and his final promise?
LISTEN
Listen to the recording and respond in complete sentences.
What did the speaker say?
Do you agree or disagree with the speaker? Why?
